Labour will negotiate the reduction of working hours only with UGT and CCOO, but leaves the door open to CEOE

The text to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours will be advanced only with unions in view of the “disappointing” position of the CEOE

1 Jul. () –

The Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey, has stated that the Government will move forward with the reduction of the working day to bring the working time from 40 hours a week to 37.5 hours by 2025 only with unions, following the “very disappointing” position of the Spanish employers’ association.

However, Pérez Rey has stated that this does not mean that the CEOE will no longer be called for the next meetings, which are being held weekly, and has left the door open for CEOE and Cepyme to continue at the negotiating table.

“We have called and will also call the employers’ association to the meeting next Monday. Whether they come or not is a decision that only corresponds to them; obviously I think they should be at that meeting and that they should somehow reflect on what this attitude is,” he added.

Thus, he confirmed that they will continue negotiating the text to reduce the working day with the union organizations, since there are still some technical elements to “polish” and that they want to close with the unions.

“Our objective now is to refine the text, but I insist, with the trade unions, who are the ones who have shown a willingness to do so, but if the employers’ association reconsiders between now and next week, (…) then they will be welcome,” Pérez Rey said after the meeting this Monday with social agents.

This is how Yolanda Díaz’s ‘number two’ responded, after the one-week deadline that the Ministry of Labor gave Spanish employers to present written proposals to reduce working time had expired.

Pérez Rey has stated that the employers’ association has maintained its position and has not presented any proposals or alternatives during the meeting and that it has even questioned the Government’s objective of legally reducing the working day to 37.5 hours. “The employers’ association’s position has left much to be desired, it has been clearly disappointing,” he lamented.

For Pérez Rey, the CEOE’s position is burdened “by ideology” rather than by “democracy” and warns of “political burdens” in the employers’ association’s decision to reduce working hours to adapt them to the companies it represents.

Likewise, he accused CEOE and Cepyme of “mocking” the social dialogue table and democracy with their “disengagement” position, after almost six months of efforts invested in negotiating the reduction of working hours.

“I do not lose hope that they can do a favour to the companies they represent and put concrete proposals on the table,” he added.

((THERE WILL BE AN EXTENSION))