The Government and civil servant unions met this Wednesday to discuss several pending issues, beyond what they reached at the end of last year. At this meeting they discussed, among other topics, the reduction of the working day to 35 hours for workers of the General State Administration (AGE). The Executive’s commitment is to approve this contraction of the working day, but the plants are now raising doubts about the approach. As CC OO and UGT have criticized in a joint note, the Ministry of Public Function has proposed that the reduction in working hours be approved through the General State Budgets, which in the opinion of the unions would unjustifiably delay the Executive’s commitment.
“UGT and CCOO are very disappointed with the meeting in which the Government has told us that the ideal thing for them is to wait for the General State Budgets of 2026 and thus implement the 35-hour day in the AGE with the rank of Law, which would delay its implementation, for which we have expressed our disagreement,” the unions say in a joint press release.
A Public Service spokesperson has declined to comment on the meeting. According to the unions, they have demanded “guarantees” for the implementation of the 35-hour day in the AGE “next February or early March.”
In the nineties, the 35 hours were already applied, but not the state one. In 2012, cuts caused by the Great Recession eliminated this modality and the prohibition remained until the 2018 Budget. Since then, several regional and municipal Administrations have recovered or implemented this day. If approved now, the cut would not only benefit, since some local corporations are governed by state regulations.
The other most representative union in the Administration, CSIF, also demands a reduction in working hours to 35 hours. But he has not participated in this Wednesday’s meeting because it takes place within the framework of the Agreement for a 21st Century Administration, signed in 2022 and which this union did not sign. CSIF emphasizes that they also demand that the Government fulfill its commitment that the Public Service approve the 35 hours at the beginning of 2026 through a resolution. Next week there is another meeting in which CSIF does participate and in it it will also insist on the expansion of teleworking in the Administration.
“We hope that, at the next meeting, which will be on Wednesday, January 28, we will have certainties and progress. Otherwise, we reserve the possibility of undertaking the actions that we consider appropriate to bring these completely essential matters to a successful conclusion,” CC OO and UGT denounce in their press release, in which they also address the recovery of partial retirement in the AGE.
Partial retirement
The centers highlight that the Executive’s commitment was to recover this type of retirement of workforce before the end of 2025, after having been suspended since April 1. “This is a priority issue for both organizations and vital to be able to continue along the good line of negotiation that has been opened with the new Public Service team,” say CC OO and UGT. Regarding the partial retirement of official and statutory personnel, the centers denounce that “they are unfulfilled commitments of the Agreement for a 21st Century Administration, whose validity expired in December 2024, and which it is equally urgent to close.”
The last Public Service agreement with the unions was sealed at the end of November, a salary pact that guarantees a cumulative increase in payrolls. From the last month of 2025, an increase of 2.5% is applied and in 2026, another 1.5%. These increases affect the 3.5 million public workers.
