This Tuesday, the Ministry of Labor put its “latest” proposal on the table that addresses the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours with the aim of convincing employers. For a few days now, Yolanda Díaz’s people have been warning that this forum was in its final stretch and they assured that, if the employers did not want to negotiate or agree on a text, they would move on to the approval phase in the Government and parliamentary processing without the signature of the business representatives.
After a meeting of around three hours, Labor has advanced its latest proposal to try to obtain the signature of an employer association that, Díaz herself denounced days ago, has not responded to the previous documents presented by the Government.
After offering flexibility criteria so that all companies could adapt to the reduction in working hours, and after offering reward small businesses the contributions of new hires that are necessary to cover the working time that could remain vacant with the reduction, Labor is now open to providing direct aid to microenterprises.
Specifically, the proposal is based on giving direct aid of up to 6,000 euros to companies that have less than five workers (microenterprises), and small companies in the manufacturing sectors commerce, hospitality, hairdressers, cleaning or agriculturethe sectors that present the greatest gap, explained Joaquín Pérez Rey, Secretary of State for Employment, with the 37.5-hour day and those that are closest to the maximum legal day.
These direct aid would serve to digitize companieshelp them implement the new digital and interoperable time registration by the Labor Inspection and to facilitate the opening of “new business models, such as online commerce.”
A final meeting on November 11
Pérez Rey announced during a press conference after the meeting that the Ministry of Labor has summoned social agents to a next meeting on November 11 which, predictably, will be the last tripartite. The Secretary of State has explained that the Government expects “a yes or no” from unions and employers.
If the employers accept the agreement, a new technical work process (as has happened with the rest of the tables, such as the one on labor reform or the regulation of digital platforms), but with the signed commitment to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours in 2025, implement an accessible time record for the Labor Inspection and regulate the so-called right to digital disconnection.
If the representatives of the businessmen give a “no”, Pérez Rey has advanced that they would seek an agreement as quickly as possible with the unionsbut he has warned that, logically, “in this attempt the geometry of the proposal that is now on the table will change; and it is very likely that some of the elements that could serve so that the employers could enter into the agreement, if they do not ago, stay out.”
The unions denounce the “blockade” of the reduction of the working day
The Secretary of State has recalled that The negotiation has already lasted 10 months divided into 13 meetings between the Government, the unions and the employers, and that in all this time the business representatives have never brought a document “that would allow us to see what their real position is.”
“It is time for those who represent small businesses and the self-employed, the majority of the companies in our country, focus on representation, not politicsnot in which party or people are behind a measure that all Spanish citizens want,” Pérez Rey assured.
The unions have shown their discomfort over what they consider de facto “a blockade” that the Ministry of Labor is allowing in its attempts to attract employers to the agreement. “It cannot be that one party is permanently blocking; this process is not going any further,” they said.
CCOO has advanced that they will “evaluate this proposal in the event that there could be a tripartite agreement; but if it were not possible, we would adjust the elements regarding registration of working hours and digital disconnection that must be adjusted, and we would implement it as soon as possible.” as soon as possible.”
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