The internal conflict within the Government over the reduction of working hours could be resolved this Wednesday. This is indicated by the Ministry of Labor, which they expect “in a matter of hours” for the Economy to respond to their two demands in this matter, which they consider red lines. The first, that the rule be processed urgently by the Council of Ministers. And the second, that the text agreed with the unions in the social dialogue be approved.
Sources from the Ministry headed by Yolanda Díaz are awaiting a response from Carlos Body’s department throughout today, “in the next few hours”, with the confidence that their Government partner will accept both issues.
In Labor, after directly pointing out the head of the Ministry of Economy, Carlos Corpo, they now reinforce the message that “it is the PSOE” within the Government that decides its position on the reduction of the working day.
At the moment, the Ministry of Economy has not responded to this medium about this ‘in extremis’ negotiation within the coalition. In recent days, sources from Carlos Corp’s department have conveyed that “the reduction of working hours is a priority and a commitment of the Government” and that they are working “to carry it out in the best possible way and as soon as possible.”
Two keys: urgency and agreement with the unions
In Labor they affirm that the response of the socialist wing of the Government must pronounce on two elements, which they consider unavoidable.
Firstly, that the PSOE commits to ensuring that the law on the reduction of the working day to 37 and a half hours will be processed urgently by the Council of Ministers, and not by the ordinary one, by which it has been leaning Economy.
From the Ministry of Yolanda Díaz they insist that the urgent procedure is necessary to guarantee that the legislation is in force in 2025, as stated in the coalition agreement between PSOE and Sumar. If not, they indicate that approval may be delayed until beyond this goal.
Furthermore, Labor warns that the vast majority of the Government’s laws are being processed through this urgent means and they do not understand why this method is not applied on this occasion.
Secondly, the second vice president demands that the Council of Ministers approve the agreement reached with the unions in the social dialogue. That is to say, in Labor they do not accept that the agreed text be touched, something that they indicate that the Economy is trying in relation to the effect of the reduction of the working day to part-time contracts.
Negotiation begins to raise the minimum wage
The internal negotiation on the working day has partly overshadowed another of the issues of the day in the Ministry of Labor: the opening of social dialogue to raise the minimum wage.
The negotiation table opens this afternoon, to which the unions and the majority employers’ associations are summoned, after this morning the Commission of experts on the minimum wage has officially presented its report to the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz.
Specialists recommend an increase of between 3.4% and 4.4%, which means increasing the minimum wage by up to 50 euros, up to 1,184 euros per month. This high band will be the proposal of the Ministry of Labor, as Yolanda Díaz explained in an interview this weekend in La Vanguardia.
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