The agreement between PSOE and Sumar to reduce the working day has provoked the resounding rejection of the employers, who consider it “an outrage”, and the support of the unions, who propose negotiating how through collective bargaining and with the objective to reach, later, 35 hours per week.
The main premise raised by the employers' association against the agreement is that it skips social dialogue, imposes a lower limit by law and leaves social agents on the sidelines. This is what the CEOE describes as the Government's interventionist desire that leads to “an attack on the constitutional role of social agents.” Doing it this way, considers that there is a risk of harming the productivity of companies, and increasing their costs.
The employers say they agree to explore new formulas for distributing work and rest time, but “not as a consequence of a legal imposition, but through collective bargaining.” They also add that the regulation of working hours must be dealt with sector by sector and company by company, examining in each case whether there is sufficient productivity margin.
Along the same lines, Foment del Treball also opposes a “generalized and legal” reduction in the working day. The principle they maintain is that "they are not against the reduction of working hours on principle, but rather the generalized reduction by law and uniform for all sectors," according to a statement from the Catalan employers' association.
On the other hand, the general secretary of CC.OO., Unai Sordo, stated that they “welcome” this pact to reduce working hours and proposes using collective bargaining as the way to apply it in different areas and sectors. “It is good that the law reduces the annual working day; then collective bargaining is the one who has to specify how it is carried out,” said Sordo. He also warned against those who from now on "are going to launch another campaign about the arrival of seven other plagues from Egypt", as they did with the labor reform or the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI).
For his part, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, assessed the measure positively but stated that the union objective is that “this legislature should be one of 35 hours per week” and added that he considers it essential to start a process to reduce the maximum working time, which has not been touched for “40 years.”
They are reactions to the agreement between PSOE and Podemos that establishes reducing “the maximum legal working day without salary reduction to establish it at 37 and a half hours per week.”
A gradual process, with a first reduction from the current 40 hours to 38.5 in 2024, and which would reach 37.5 hours in 2025. From that moment on, a table will be established with social agents to “evaluate the results of the reduction and continue making progress in reducing the working day.”
If the agreement ends up being implemented, it will affect approximately 12 million workers, according to estimates by the Ministry of Labor. These are those who do not have an agreement or, if they do have one, which does not establish a reduction in working hours below the 37.5 hours per week that they want to establish. The legal limit now in force is 40 hours, but it can be reduced depending on collective bargaining, which means that the average negotiated working day is currently 38.2 hours per week.
The case is different for civil servants, who number approximately 1.5 million workers and who currently have a working day of 37.5 hours per week.
If we look at the collective agreements registered and effective in 2023, they affect 9.5 million employees and the vast majority with a working day of more than 37.5 hours, according to data managed by the UGT union. Specifically, more than eight million could benefit from the reduction in working hours, while only 1.1 million currently work less than 37.5 hours.
“Looking at the experiences in other countries, reducing the working day allows people to improve their quality of life without derailing the economy, but what it does not allow is to create more jobs,” said Raymond Torres, from Funcas, who recommends negotiating. sector by sector to absorb the reduction in working hours. For his part, Manuel Hidalgo, from the Pablo de Olavide University, warned that "by working fewer hours, productivity will have to increase, which is already lower in Spain than in Europe, or it will mean an increase in costs for companies."
More critical was Marcel Jansen, from Fedea, who said he did not see “social demand for this measure nor that it is a priority, it is an imprudence that is difficult to defend.” He also highlighted his surprise at the announcement of the pact when the day before, the first vice president and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, stated that the priority for the next legislature should be to “end unemployment” and referred to the debate on the reduction of the working day to the scope of collective bargaining.
