The CEOE refuses to sign a text that establishes that the workers of multi-service companies are governed by the agreement of the main company
The labor reform agreement is on the verge of candy. The government, unions and employers are already negotiating “in discount time” – as the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, recognized on Wednesday – the last remaining fringes to close a text that must be published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) before the end the year.
The negotiators began a meeting on Wednesday at four in the afternoon that lasted until late at night. The last fringes were yet to be closed to announce a principle of agreement that will foreseeably be made official this Thursday, once it is endorsed in the executive committees that have been summoned by the CEOE, UGT and CC OO. This is how the Minister of Labor also dropped it on Wednesday: “Tomorrow I would like to be able to dine at my house in Galicia, but I will be at what the negotiation mandates.”
The negotiation enters “discount time” but Díaz trusts that the pact will be reached today
The great stumbling block in this final stretch of the negotiation is in subcontracting. And precisely in a matter that was already considered overcome: the agreement by which the workers of a multi-service company will be governed, according to sources of social dialogue told this newspaper. Thus, at the table there was debate again on that first proposal of the Government that proposed that the workers be governed by the agreement of the main company. In other words, if a bank outsources cleaning services, the agreement that applies to workers who carry out this activity will be that of the bank. And for the CEOE this is a red line. It will not sign an agreement that includes this measure. From the employer they demand to return to the drafting of the last drafts in which it was already agreed that the application agreement for the contractor companies is that of the sector of the activity carried out in the subcontractor.
This is the last draft
These last hours are those of maximum tension. Each point, each comma of a text is discussed that, however, has not changed much in recent weeks. Thus, the temporality in the last draft is maintained as this newspaper had anticipated. The contract is presumed to be concluded for an indefinite period, while a temporary contract may only be used for a maximum of six months, extendable to one year, when it is due to an unpredictable increase in production; in the event of foreseeable situations, such as sales, the maximum duration will be 90 non-consecutive days. Of course, failure to comply with the rules that regulate temporary hiring will cause the worker to be considered permanent. In addition, the workforce and resources of the Labor Inspectorate will be strengthened to act against the fraudulent use of these contracts, at the same time that the sanctions will be significantly increased, which will be applied by each worker and not by company.
The other major issue that is intended to be corrected with the new rule that will come into force in 2022 is the rebalancing of collective bargaining. To do this, the ultra-activity of the agreements is recovered, which will be extended until there is a new one, and the sector agreement will prevail over the company agreement in these matters: the choice between payment or compensation of overtime, the schedule and the distribution of working time (not the working day), adaptation of the professional classification and family conciliation measures.
On the other hand, the new RED mechanism will be launched to promote ERTE to the detriment of layoffs. In this sense, the exemptions will be maintained for the companies that take advantage of it – the percentage of which has yet to be defined – but as long as they offer training to their workers and keep their entire workforce for six months. To this end, a RED fund for employment sustainability will be established to meet the financing needs of this mechanism.
Finally, the additional provision of the Workers’ Statute that allowed the possibility of undertaking objective dismissals and Collective dismissals in the field of Public Administrations will be repealed.
.