Díaz has already warned that this measure will be carried out even if CEOE and Cepyme do not support it and will imply the reinforcement of time registration

MADRID, 24 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The social dialogue table between the Government and social agents that will address the reduction of working hours in Spain without implying a salary cut will begin its work tomorrow, Thursday, with a meeting that will be held at 9:30 a.m.

As Europa Press has been informed by negotiation sources, the meeting will not be attended by union and business leaders, but rather by the negotiators of each party and will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey.

It was the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, who announced the call for this meeting after emphasizing that this will be "the legislature of salaries and working time."

But it is not the only message that Díaz has launched these days. The minister has made it clear that the reduction in working hours, contemplated in the Government agreement between PSOE and Sumar, will be carried out even if it does not have the support of the business organizations CEOE and Cepyme.

Specifically, the agreement between PSOE and Sumar contemplates reducing the working day from the current 40 hours per week to 37.5 hours by 2025 without salary reduction. In between, the idea is that in 2024 the working day will be cut to 38.5 hours.

The vice president believes that Spain must reduce the working day, which has been frozen for "40 years," so that workers gain time for life. She defends that it is a measure highly supported by citizens, even by right-wing voters, and that it will improve the productivity of the Spanish economy.

"We are going to reduce the working day that has been frozen for 40 years in our country, but without a salary reduction, because this is what is going to make us continue raising salaries in our country," the minister said a few days ago.

Given that the average effective working day is now around 38.5 hours a week, work will also be done at the negotiation table on how to reinforce and improve the operation of the time registration to which companies are obliged so that these 38 are truly met. ,5 hours.

In fact, as the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, pointed out yesterday, the first tranche of the reduction of the working day to 38.5 hours by 2024, "would have practically no effect" on the working hours of the workers affected by the agreement, since this would be 1,758.16 hours compared to the 1,751.56 hours represented by the average of the sectoral working hours agreed in 2023.

Of course, the second tranche of the planned reduction in the working day, which will take it to 37.5 hours in 2025, will affect 10.3 million workers, 94% of those who have a reference collective agreement, according to CCOO .

Sordo considers that reducing the working day by law is a "necessary" issue that, in his opinion, must be addressed "as soon as possible", although the union's intention is that the working day, working time and the distribution of the working day be followed settling in the scope of collective agreements. "Now, if the law accompanies us in that area, the better," he added.

For his part, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, sees it as positive that the Government is considering reducing the working day to 37.5 hours per week, but does not hide his desire for "this legislature to be one of 35 hours per week."

The last time in Spain there was a reduction in the maximum working day was in 1984 and cutting working hours was a claim and demand from the union organizations.

Although the announcement of the call for this table has been well received by the unions, it has not been so well received by the business organizations. The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has shown himself "willing to talk" about the issue, but "not because a lady comes to impose her criteria on us because it is her milestone and star measure."

"No one is saying that the working day cannot be reduced, in fact there are sectors with more productivity that have less working hours. Not all sectors are the same, that is why what we propose is that it be done sector by sector, at each table, which is as has always been done," Garamendi has defended these days.

The president of the employers' association is upset that this negotiation table has "marked the end and the result", which is why he understands that "we cannot talk about social dialogue" when the Government has already made a decision that is due to "a milestone political".

Garamendi also wants this regulation to be made "between workers and employers" and "by sectors", since there are some that have greater productivity and other sectors where workers have "less productivity and more hours" of work are needed.

Furthermore, he considers that the reduction in the working day is "another implicit increase in the interprofessional minimum wage", which will also "block collective bargaining" with the unions.

As a way to reduce the working day this year to the 38.5 hours per week committed to in the PSOE-Sumar agreement, Labor wants to improve the operation of the time record.

All companies, without exception, have been obliged since May 12, 2019 to record the daily hours of their workers under a Royal Decree-Law approved by the Government of Pedro Sánchez in March of that year.

The objective of this measure is to measure the duration of working days and, therefore, overtime, and also breaks, which cannot be less than twelve hours between the end and beginning of the day or 36 hours per week, although with peculiarities. about its location on the calendar according to the sector in question.

The mandatory registration that companies must include the beginning and end of the worker's day, without prejudice to time flexibility, and is organized and documented through collective bargaining or company agreement or, failing that, by decision of the employer after consultation. with the legal representatives of the workers.

If there is no legal representation of the workers, it is the company that determines how the registration of working hours is organized and documented.

The company is obliged to keep the time records of its workers for four years and these must remain available to workers, unions and the Labor and Social Security Inspection. In case of non-compliance, the amount of the penalty can range from 626 euros if it is considered minor or reach 6,250 euros if it is classified as serious.