Díaz advances that the reduction in working hours will be approved as a draft law in urgent process

MADRID 8 Oct. () –

The second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, announced this Tuesday that the rule that will regulate the reduction of working hours will be approved as a draft bill in urgent process, so the agreement will be complied with. of Government between PSOE and Sumar that sets the reduction of the weekly working day to 38.5 hours this year and to 37.5 hours in 2025.

“In the parliamentary process we will expedite as much as possible,” said Díaz, who stressed that said draft will be presented once the negotiation table is concluded, for which he insisted that there is no date. “I am not going to get up from this table. I have infinite patience (…) I take social dialogue very seriously and I will not shelve it,” the minister defended.

In any case, it has guaranteed that the Government agreement will be fulfilled so that by December 31, 2025 “the entire Spanish salaried population, affecting more than 12 million working people, will have their working hours reduced by two hours and average”.

Díaz has assured that if he thought that there was no room for agreement or that one of the social actors was acting “extramural to the good faith of the negotiation”, he would act, but he has specified that he does not believe that such a thing is happening.

In the press conference after the Council of Ministers, the second vice president assured that in the last meeting of the negotiation table with unions and employers “there was progress”, as it was “the first time that the Spanish employers entered into the hard core of the negotiation”.

Thus, the minister has been “absolutely convinced” that there is a possibility of agreement with the social agents “because it is one of the most sensitive measures for Spanish citizens.” “It is no coincidence that even Vox voters want this measure to be carried out,” he stressed.

The second vice president is confident that the next meeting of the board, scheduled for next Friday, will continue to make progress in the negotiation with CCOO, UGT, CEOE and Cepyme.

Díaz explained that there are two “very sensitive” matters that this table is working on: remote and real-time time control, and the right to digital disconnection.

Likewise, he explained that specific time controls will be made for activities with special working hours, such as fishing, the steel industry or shift work. “This table is like a small lung that looks at the Spain that is coming, which has to do with living better, working less, and has to talk about the distribution of productivity, it is very important,” he remarked.

The minister has insisted that there has been progress at the table because the Ministry’s commitment to small businesses so that they can develop the reduction of working hours is “clear.” Hence the support plan for SMEs that was proposed at the negotiating table and that Díaz sees as essential so that in Spain there are no “first-class and second-class” workers.

“I know who has reduced working hours and I know who does not (…). And I know very well the step, the leap that these companies are going to have to take. But what we want is that now in a country that today has the average working day at 38.2 hours, we want something as simple as that people in commerce, women who work in any part of commerce in our country, also have their working hours reduced (…) and agriculture, which is the tail of all this,” he defended.