She prefers an agreement to winning the game. But even with an agreement, she can lose. The second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, acknowledged this Thursday that the reduction in the working day that the Ministry of Labor is negotiating with the social agents may fail even if a tripartite agreement is reached. “I know that I am in a difficult dilemma. We can reach an agreement at the social dialogue table and be overturned, as almost happened with the labor reform,” she acknowledged during her speech at the Nueva Economía Forum.
The Minister of Labour has once again defended the benefits of a reduction in the maximum weekly working day, which, according to her calculations, will affect 12.5 million workers. “It is not an economic variable or a working condition, it is a declaration of principles and a social model,” she argued at the beginning of her speech, in which she argued that “democracy in the company can only function through dignified and safe work.” “There is no element that provides more security than recovering hours of life, rest or for our family. What best defines being free today is enjoying one’s own time,” she explained.
Díaz has insisted on the idea that she has been conveying for days from her department: that there is room for an agreement with the employers. “There is progress,” she said, acknowledging that since January they had been “at a table that was not moving.” Despite the optimism of the Labour Department, the unions UGT and CCOO warned on Wednesday after leaving the meeting that they would call for demonstrations in September if they did not see real progress at the next meeting, which will be held on July 29.
The Secretary General of Commissions, Unai Sordo, regretted this Thursday that “the negotiation has entered a loop and there will be mobilizations in September.” “I do not see another scenario because the movements made by the Government have not yet produced any change of position in the CEOE,” he indicated in a statement. Interview on Cadena Ser“They have the legitimacy to do what they deem appropriate,” Díaz conceded, recalling that “democracy is achieved in many places,” including “through strikes and demonstrations.”
The Labour Department opened the door at the social dialogue table on Wednesday to making it easier for companies to incorporate the 37.5-hour work week, with mechanisms that allow them to “adapt more gradually”, explained the Secretary of State for Labour, Joaquín Pérez Rey, who also put on the table tools that “allow a certain flexibility in the use of working time”.
Although CEOE president Antonio Garamendia acknowledged just over a week ago that it “seems” like they are “re-entering into negotiations”, employers’ sources told Efe yesterday that they had “absolutely” refused to reduce working hours outside of collective bargaining.
However, Díaz has now expressed the possibility that the reduction may not go ahead even if a hypothetical agreement is reached with the social agents. “It could be overturned, as almost happened with the labour reform,” recalled the vice president about the labour legislation approved in 2022, after the vote against by the UPN defectors Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero and thanks to the vote in favour by mistake by the then PP deputy Alberto Casero.
Until now, the Ministry of Labour had always expressed its confidence in the parliamentary process of the law. Specifically, they did so based on a vote in Congress in February, in which a non-legislative proposal by Sumar was approved with the votes against of Vox and the abstention of the PP and Junts. They also relied on surveys and polls that show social support for the measure. “It is supported by more than 80% of Spanish society,” agreed the deputy general secretary of trade union policy of UGT, Fernando Luján.
Source: www.eldiario.es
