Spain’s coalition government and the two largest trade unions, the UGT and CCOO, agreed on Friday to implement a shorter work week with the same pay, although the change still needs to be approved by a fragmented parliament while it faces opposition from employers.
Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz and the leaders of the two main unions (main image), Unai Sordo (CCOO) and Pepe Álvarez (UGT), stressed the ‘historic’ nature of the measure reducing the maximum number of work hours per week to 37.5 from the current 40, with unchanged salaries, before the end of 2025.
‘Today, we’re settling a debt with the working people of Spain … with the new generations who understand that personal time is not a luxury, but a fundamental right,’ said Diaz, who is also deputy prime minister and leads the left-wing Sumar umbrella group, the socialist (PSOE) led government’s junior coalition partner.
The planned change would affect some 12 million workers, especially those with precarious jobs, as well as reduce carbon emissions, she said.
The new weekly limit will be calculated on an annual average, with any additional hours worked considered overtime. The enforcement of working time recording obligations will be toughened and fines raised €10,000 per worker for non-compliant companies.
One of the cornerstones of the ruling coalition deal between the PSOE and Sumar, the working week reduction has been opposed by the main employers’ association CEOE, which argues it should not be imposed by law but through collective bargaining with each company to adapt to specific productivity needs.
‘The real deal is to actually think about the economy, not how to make headlines,’ CEOE head Antonio Garamendi said on Thursday, underlining businesses’ worries about costs of the measure.
He also praised Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo of the PSOE party, who has signalled the measure’s full implementation could be delayed until 2026 to give small businesses greater flexibility and secure parliamentary support for its passage.
It remains uncertain whether the change can clear the Spanish Congress, as the minority government depends on an array of smaller parties such as Catalonia’s pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), which may be hard to convince due to its business-friendly stance.
El año 2025 le traerá a 12 millones de personas trabajadoras lo más importante para la vida: el tiempo.
La reducción de la jornada es el mejor propósito. Se trata de mejorar la vida de la gente, de ser más felices. pic.twitter.com/RihBye4IXv
— Yolanda Díaz (@Yolanda_Diaz_) December 20, 2024
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