Body defends the Government’s common plan for reducing working hours: "We have a shared goal"

MADRID Dec. 19 () –

The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body, wanted to downplay the alleged dissension within the Government over the reduction of the working day to 37 and a half hours and has assured that it is a “shared objective.”

“We have a shared objective,” the minister stressed in statements to the media before presenting the new version of the Citizen Folder, which incorporates a specific profile for companies.

The clash between the two Government formations revolves around the timing of the rule’s entry into force. While the socialist wing of the Government cools the expectation of approving this measure before December 31, 2025, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, insists that the agreement must be fulfilled before the end of next year.

The socialists believe that the important thing is that the measure goes ahead, which was included in the coalition agreement of the PSOE and Sumar Government and which finally only has the support of the unions, but not the employers. Regarding the deadlines, they have said that there is no fixed one and that the important thing is that it be approved in this legislature, which should end in 2027.

In any case, the desire, according to Corps, is to advance “as soon as possible” to reach 37 and a half hours, being aware that the current situation regarding the working day is about 38.3 hours on average for the entire productive system.

Of course, for the minister, a key point of this reduction is the support for companies in this transition, since the situation is “very heterogeneous” both by type of company and by sector.

And the fact is that the Ministry of Labor, after the employers’ ‘no’, stressed that it would seek an agreement only with the CCOO and UGT unions, which will be “imminent”, which would imply that some measures that were put on the table to attracting CEOE to the agreement may decline, such as aid or support for companies.

Despite everything, the Minister of Economy stressed in an interview in ‘La Sexta’ this week: “It is important that we close the agreement in this year 2025 and that we close it with the set of parliamentary forces so that it can be in force in the year 2025 and that this agreement includes an element of support for companies to help them”.