the final offer of Work to employers to reduce the working day

BarcelonaAfter thirteen meetings in ten months of negotiations, the Spanish government wants the employer to answer clearly with a yes or a no to its latest proposal on the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week next year, with respect to the current 40 The ministry will give direct aid of up to 6,000 euros to micro-SMEs with fewer than five workers who work in the trade, hospitality, hairdressers, cleaning and agriculture sectors to implement the measure.

This is what the Secretary of State for Labour, Joaquín Pérez Rey, explained this Tuesday, after the last meeting between the ministry, representatives of employers and unions. The high official has launched a final offer to the CEOE and Cepyme, after criticizing that these organizations have not presented any written document with alternative solutions throughout the negotiation, and has set the next November 11 as the maximum date because the employer pronounces. “The table can no longer be extended,” said Pérez Rey.

These subsidies proposed by the State will serve “to stimulate the productivity” of these small companies and encourage their digitization. According to Pérez Rey, direct aid could reach nearly 470,000 companies and the State would allocate between 350 and 375 million euros. In this sense, he has affirmed that they would be added to the other incentives that Labor had already put on the table to accompany companies with fewer than ten workers in this transition to the 37.5 hours a week, such as the employment bonus created as a result of the reduction of working hours and the transformation of part-time contracts into full-time contracts.

Modification of the Workers’ Statute

“Beyond linking the reduction of working hours to collective bargaining, there have been no specific proposals from employers on the table,” lamented Pérez Rey. “This is a debate from the eighties,” he added. The Secretary of State for Labor has remarked that the only way to promote this measure is through the amendment of the law, since so far it has been clear that many sectors are not willing to negotiate this cut in working hours work in their agreements. In case the employer refuses to accept this latest proposal, he explained that the negotiation would continue only with the unions and that this could change the terms of the agreement. Afterwards, this modification of the Workers’ Statute would go directly to the Congress of Deputies as a draft law under emergency procedure.