The Government approved this Tuesday at its meeting in the Council of Ministers the Draft Law to reduce the legal maximum day from 40 to 37.5 hours per week in annual computation and without salary cut. After this approval, the Executive sends the text of the Draft Law – – to receive the preceptive institutional reports and then enter the Congress of Deputies, where the Executive has admitted that it will have difficulty getting it on and vigor.
This has been expressly recognized on Tuesday, at the press conference after the Ministerial Meeting, both the head of Economics, Carlos Body, as well as the Government spokeswoman and Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría. The first, on account of the schedule of the schedule, has assured that the two formations of the coalition executive “share the need to advance in the reduction of the day and to do it as quickly as possible.” And then admit that the government “already has this parliamentary negotiation, which will not be easy”, but that will put all efforts to reach a consensus as soon as possible.
Along the same lines, the spokesman has indicated that the Executive “is not naive” and is “aware” of her situation of “parliamentary minority” and the consequent difficulties to obtain majorities. More specifically, and asked the three appearing ministers, in the lower house, Alegría also recognized that government negotiations with Catalan nationalists are “constant and complex.”
Something more optimistic was Vice President Díaz, who rejected that Juns’ warning to a possible rejection of supporting the reduction of the day was a threat to the government. “The political formations do not threaten, dialogue and negotiate, and this is what we are going to do,” insisted the Minister of Labor, although Díaz refused to reveal the content of the conversations that are already maintaining with the Catalans. On the contrary, he preferred to divert the focus on the ranks of the PP, whom he began to be portrayed in the parliamentary vote of the reduction of the day.
“The question is whether the PP will repeat the error of the labor reform (against which he voted against in Congress) or will take advantage of this historical change – which according to Díaz supposes the cut of the day – to reconcile with his voters “, Who, in their opinion,” also want the reduction of working time. Or if, on the contrary, “concern will be to have an absolutely destructive and useless opposition,” said the vice president.
Citizen support
In any case, Díaz has recognized, within the framework of negotiations with Junts, which Catalonia has its own business fabric with a strong presence of SMEs and, therefore, the Government will impact it. But it has also launched a warning to any possible vote against the maximum day of 37.5 hours: “When a measure is won on the street, it is very difficult to find reasons to knock it down,” he said in reference to the citizen support that the Government finds to this extent.
To these difficulties recognized by the Government to carry out the measure in Parliament, they will be united in Congress to stop this cut of the maximum legal working day without salary reduction. The president of the great employer CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has assured that the entrepreneurs “will defend their positions (of rejection of the hourly reduction) and will transfer their opinions, also legitimate to political parties.”
All these difficulties do not discourage Díaz, who has piloted negotiation with entrepreneurs and unions to reduce the maximum legal day in the last eleven months. “It will be a simpler (parliamentary) debate than it seems; Being complex, it is well surrounded and the force that substantial will be of the people, not of the political formations, ”said the Minister of Labor. In fact, this Tuesday has once again defended the measure “will substantially improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and democratize the (business) benefits.”
