The Spanish government and social agents resume negotiations on reducing the working day to 37.5 hours

He Ministry of Labour and Social Economy of the Government of Spain will meet this Monday CCOO, UGT, CEOE and Cepyme of the 10:30 am to continue negotiations on reducing the weekly working day to 37.5 hours.

It will be the first meeting of this social dialogue table after the summer holidays and according to what the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, said last week, there will be new proposals by the government.

The last time a meeting of this table took place was on July 29. Pérez Rey celebrated the “constructive” tone of the meeting, in which employers committed to “seriously” studying the ministry’s proposal to apply the short-time working scheme flexibly throughout 2025, improve the registration of working hours and guarantee the right to work time. workers to digital disconnection.

Within this flexibility offered to employers, so that the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours comes into effect throughout 2025 and not on 1 January, Labour argues that the majority of collective agreements will expire between 2024 and 2025.

The Ministry wants to reach agreement on this reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week as soon as possible and believes that it has offered employers sufficient margins to implement this reduction gradually without significantly changing the pace of companies.

Regarding the mobilizations announced by CCOO and UGT to promote the implementation of the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week, Pérez Rey expressed his “maximum respect” for the “legitimate demands” of the trade union organizations and their freedom of association. “Hopefully these mobilizations will not be necessary and the sooner we reach an agreement at the social dialogue table that will not require mobilization,” he noted.