The CEOE says yes to the new labor reform

The CEOE has said yes. After nine months of intense negotiations, the executive committee of the employers approved this Thursday to give its support to the general lines of the latest labor reform proposal agreed with the Government and the unions, in the absence of specifying the details and “in the absence of of the final writing, “according to what business sources told this newspaper.

For the agreement to be complete, we will have to wait until the executive committees that UGT and CC OO maintain at this time, although no one doubts that they will also give their support to the new rule that will govern the labor market as of next year.

The effort and involvement of the three parties has been total and they have left their skin to fulfill the promise that the Executive had made with the European Commission: that the new standard be published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) before the end of the year. For this reason, the text that is still pending the final drafting will foreseeably be approved at the last Council of Ministers of the year, which will be held next Tuesday, February 28.

The Government wanted the tripartite agreement, it needed it, because it knows that a labor reform without the bosses’ yes is not well seen from Brussels. And at stake there are 12,000 million of European funds. That is why he parked his commitment to a complete repeal of the PP labor reform and has had to give in along the way, carrying out a series of balances to try to satisfy employers and at the same time avoid the rejection of the unions.

The new labor reform that will come into force in 2022 involves far-reaching changes in four areas: collective bargaining, subcontracting, temporary hiring and internal adjustment mechanisms (ERTE).

Rebalancing collective bargaining

This was one of the great demands of the unions: to regain the power that the 2012 reform had taken away from them in favor of the employers when negotiating agreements. And they have succeeded, with the odd nuance. In the first place, the ultra-activity of collective agreements is recovered, which will not decline as now and will be automatically extended until there is a new one.

Another fundamental piece is that the sector agreement will prevail over that of the company in most matters, although not in salary or in the distribution of the day. The sector agreement will prevail in the choice between payment or compensation for overtime, the schedule and distribution of working time, the adaptation of the professional classification and the family conciliation measures.

The CEOE, for its part, maintains another of its red lines: not to touch the substantial modification of working conditions by the company, which allows them to lower wages unilaterally.

Outsourcing

The collective agreement applicable to subcontractors will be that of the sector of the activity carried out in the contract, whether it corresponds to the activity of the principal or to a different one. The CEOE finally succeeded in not being governed by the agreement of the main company sector, but the reduction of salaries that they do is put to a stop, being governed by the agreement of multi-service companies.