Work less progressively, establish measures in stages and a working day of 37.5 hours per week for three years from now. These clauses, agreed upon by the event organization agency sector agreement, could be a test bed within the framework of the negotiations between the Ministry of Labor, the employers’ association and the unions to establish a reduction in the working day, which determines an average of 37.5 hours per week.
The positions remain very opposed. In fact, in Catalonia the employers’ association Pimec Comerç warns that the current proposal to reduce working hours would put at risk the viability of more than half of the Catalan local establishments.
On the other hand, the union UGT Catalunya remember that seven out of ten workers still exceed the 38 average weekly hours in your work day. To balance these opposing interests, some labor law experts urge to previously reform other aspects that surround the labor market, such as productivity or the regulation of presence in the workplace before definitively addressing the reduction of working hours.
In a consultation carried out among its partners, associations and unions to assess the perception of the proposal to reduce the working day, the employers Pimec Comerç notes that, if the measure were implemented, a 38% of merchants should increase labor costs, while a 20% You think it would decrease your turnover.
Furthermore, a 67% of establishments state that they would need to hire at least one part-time person if the reduction in working hours were implemented, a key fact that shows that SMEs in the sector would be forced to substantially reorganize their workforce, to maintain the quality of service and the productivity index. As a request to the Administration, they demand, in a 77% of casesa flexibility and adaptation of the measure taking into account the reality of each sector and the size of the companies.
The president of Pimec Comerç, Antonio Torresspecifies that the proposal to reduce working hours must be faced with a 360-degree view, since “the labor market has other challenges that must be taken into account to implement this measure.” Torres adds that the current proposal to reduce working hours “will affect the solvency and competitiveness of many of the local establishments and companies in the sector.” In this sense, he emphasizes that “it will be necessary to hire more staff at a time when we already have a difficult time finding professionals.”
Far from collective bargaining
Despite the employment record in Catalonia with 3.86 million people working, data taken from the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the third quarter, in its analysis, the union UGT Catalunya warns that despite the apparent good figures, “precariousness persists.” In relation to the working day, he details that “it is still too long for more than seven out of ten Catalan workers.”
During the third quarter, the average effective working day for people with full-time dedication was 38.6 hours. Curiously, a 71.6% of these people have worked more than 37.5 hours, one of the objectives of collective bargaining.
Profiles with longer working hours include women who work in the primary sector, where conditions are often precarious, as well as men who work in commerce and hospitality and those who are employed in the transport and logistics sector. All these groups are affected by days that exceed the 40 hours per weekwhich not only worsens your quality of life, but can also affect your physical and mental health.
Given this scenario, UGT requests “to reach agreements for the reduction and rationalization of the working day, establishing 37.5 hours as the legal limit, fighting for 35 and continuing to move towards 32 hours per week.” For this reason, it calls for prioritizing the improvement of working conditions, with fewer working hours and an adequate salary as the final objective.
Dialogue and productivity table
Taking into account that, for almost five decades, the standard working day has been 40 hours per week, the collaborating professor of the Law and Political Science studies at the UOC and expert in labor law Miguel Arenas advocates a paradigm shift.
“First we must analyze the workers who are working extra hours who, in the case of SMEs, are the ones with the worst conditions.” Arenas defends the importance of articulating any change in the length of the working day through a dialogue table between unions, employers and Administration. “In the political sphere, the agreement does not seem possible due to the correlation of forces, since the coalition government seems not to have the support of parties such as the PNV or Junts per Catalunya.”
From a technical point of view, Arenas asks to manage the excess of presenteeism in the workplace, which results in an increase in accidents and worse working conditions. The expert recalls that, increasingly, the workplace is located further away from home, which causes a longer actual work day. In this debate, it demands that employers accept measures such as telematic control of time registration, which is accompanied by an automatic system of sanctions.
Beyond reducing the working day, specialists consider improving productivity and reducing precariousness as a priority. Until this goal is achieved, experts warn that excess hours worked cause confusion and work and personal discomfort.
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