The Ministry of Labor led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz presented its latest offer last Tuesday to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours in 2025. The Government transferred an aid package to “stimulate the productivity” of microbusinesses, those with up to five workers in the sectors furthest from the schedule objective. Díaz wants to channel two bonus programs for digitalization and business advice through the Digital Kit. This offer, valued at 375 million euros, would be borne by European fundsaccording to the draft to which ‘elEconomista.es’ has had access.
The Ministry has designed this aid package as an extension of the Acelera SME program. The potential beneficiaries are very small companies, with up to five employees, that operate in the commerce, hospitality, agriculture, cleaning and hairdressers. Are 470,000 companies that will distribute bonuses of up to 6,000 eurosas explained by the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey.
Labor justifies the proposal by arguing that they are the sectors that will have to apply the greatest reduction in hours if the reform goes ahead and, in turn, where they perceive the greatest productivity problems. In any case, one of the conditions that the Government requires of microenterprises is to guarantee the “level and quality of existing employment in the company for three years.”
On the one hand, the program proposes ‘Digital Kit 5’endowed with 187.5 million euros. It would be aimed at the digitalization of microenterprises, the contracting of services or the creation of the electronic time registration system with access for the Labor Inspection that Díaz intends to implement in this same reform.
Although there are already similar items that microSMEs can request within the Digital Kit, these expire at the end of 2024 and October 21, 2025. The item offered by Trabajo would last until June 30, 2026, a year and a half after the target date to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours per week.
It proposes a similar item of 187.5 million for the so-called ‘Consulting Kit 5’with a more professional character and business promotion. This line of financing would allow the hiring of professional advice on sales, negotiation or production processes, strategy or digital transformation. Microbusinesses cannot currently access this branch of the Digital Kit, the draft details.
Both lines of financing to subsidize expenses of microenterprises will be incompatible with each other so that they reach the greatest number of companies possible, argues the Executive. “Companies must choose between going to the Digital Kit program or the Consulting Kit and, except as specifically provided for the digitalization of the time record, those companies that have already benefited from the current Digital Kit will not be able to access the new Digital Kit program,” points out the draft.
CEOE’s ‘no’, Díaz’s last word
Employers maintain their position and, shielded by the refusal to cut working time by law, argue that collective bargaining already achieves this effect through the pact between companies and sectoral unions. This has been the position of CEOE and Cepyme since the beginning of the negotiations, back in January bilaterally, to avoid reopening current agreements.
The Government, under pressure from the unions, incorporated one last condition to the package of economic offers in exchange for reducing the working day: they will withdraw or change the conditions of the aid. They are the bonus of social contributions for hiring permanent workers who come from unemployment; by converting part-time contracts into full-time employment relationships; and the aforementioned aid to microenterprises.
Without significant changes in the course of the negotiation beyond the consecutive attempts to attract the employers, the employers will meet again next Tuesday, according to what was announced Economic Information. The CEOE board is expected to reject Díaz’s proposal, forcing the Government to move forward with the measure without his signature.
The unions want to close the reform, but they question the Government’s maneuver. They feel that the last meetings have focused exclusively on seducing businessmen, but above all they are aware that The lack of consensus in social dialogue further blurs the parliamentary process.
Díaz is destined to move into the political arena, where she has had a hectic legislature with the negative experience of unemployment benefits that her former Podemos colleagues overturned in the first instance.
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