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The proposal to implement a four-day working week reopened the debate on the possibility of reducing the 40-hour workload adopted a century ago, something with which the social partners, experts and the Government agree.
Based on an amendment by Más País in defense of a 32-hour work week without a salary reduction, the debate on working hours in Spain was reopened in a labor market, set at 40 hours a week as a limit for more than a century hit for the new coronavirus pandemic.
Although the Government spokesperson and Finance Minister, María Jesús Montero, admitted that the issue was on the executive’s desk and that it has not yet been addressed in the social dialogue, unions and employers reacted to a possible reduction in working hours in Spain . , which raises doubts among the labor specialists consulted by Efe about when and how to tackle it.
The associate researcher of the Foundation for Applied Economics Studies (Fedea), Florentino Felgueroso, considers it “obligatory” to want to implement a change through legislation and points out other ways to approach it, such as collective bargaining or a better use of part-time work.
“The reality of the labor market is very heterogeneous: what may be good for some companies is not good for others,” said Felgueroso, who recalls the situation that the labor market and the economy are going through with the impact of the pandemic.
ORA reduction in working hours, while maintaining the same salary level, has a strong impact on companies that, in some way, must be compensated, as happened in France, where for years part of this expense was assumed by the State, with a very relevant weight Gross domestic product (GDP).
“It seems to me that after 100 years with this working day it is reasonable to question the feasibility of the reduction”, argues Daniel Toscani, professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Valencia.
The professor considers, however, that “it cannot be imposed, it must be accompanied by higher productivity, and it also depends on the type of company.
Trade unions also advocate debate and social dialogue.
“We believe that since the 40-hour working day was established, a long time has passed and productivity has increased notably, which allows us to open the debate on its reduction,” the CCOO secretary for Youth and New Realities of Work tells Efe. . Carlos Gutierrez.
The general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, insisted this week on the proposal to implement a four-day weekly shift, to which is added another training period, in order to distribute work time to generate more jobs.
The president of the CEOE employers’ association, Antonio Garamendi, said that it is an issue that, in any case, must be negotiated between companies and unions and implemented through agreements and rejected that it is time to open these issues.
In the coalition government there are also different positions. While the Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, affirmed that he does not see “room” to implement a four-day work week in Spain, the Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy, Joaquín Pérez Rey, acknowledged this Friday. Right, that the debate on working time “is the great debate”, but it should be dealt with in a future law and not in the Budgets.
In Spain an average of 40.5 hours a week is worked, a little more than 11 countries, including France (40.4), Finland (40), Norway (38.7) or Denmark (38.4), according to data. Eurostat data for the fourth quarter of 2019, which measure the working time of full-time employees.
