The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the leftist Sumar platform pave the way for a new coalition government for the next four years. The two political parties reached an agreement and Sumar managed to guarantee one of his electoral promises: the reduction of 40 hours of work per week to 37.5 hours.
The agreement was reached this Tuesday morning, after weeks of negotiations. In addition to reducing the working day, the document includes the increase in maternity and paternity leave -both in 16 weeks currently-, a new increase the minimum wage, which today is around 1,080 euros, and the repeal of the gag lawa promise that the previous Executive did not keep.
The reduction of working hours was the main obstacle to the agreement.
The PSOE wanted to leave the issue in the hands of negotiation between employers and unions, but Sumar wanted to stipulate this reduction by law and make it impossible for the employers to veto it. It ended up being Sumar’s vision that prevailed.: The reduction will be made by law, but gradually, 38.5 hours per week in 2024, 37.5 hours in 2025, without salary reduction.
The measure will be included in the Workers’ Statute and affects around 12 million workers in the private sector, since in the public sector the working day already lasts less than 37.5 hours per week.
In a second stage, the agreement provides for a reduction in the working day to 35 hours per week, this time subject to negotiation between the unions and the employer.
The Government pact also includes a plan to curb youth unemployment and strengthen the National Health Servicea commitment that will be reflected in the State budget, which will dedicate one of its largest sections to this objective.
The two parties consider that this is a response to the “citizenship message in the July 23 elections.” In a joint statement, they maintain that this agreement “will allow the country to continue growing sustainably, with quality employment and Policies based on social and climate justice, with more rights and freedoms.”.
The investiture, far away
This is the first agreement that Pedro Sánchez has reached for his investiture, and also the most anticipated, since both the current President of the Government, the current Minister of Labor and the leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, had already said in the electoral campaign that the objective was to reissue a progressive coalition government. The arithmetic in Congress remains complicated and, once the agreement with Sumar was reached, Sánchez must now focus on the votes of the other five parties, essential for the investiture.
The negotiations with the Catalan independentists will be the most complicated. The amnesty law already seems to be a fact, the form and scope of the proposal still needs to be known. Both Junts per Catalunya, the party of fugitive Carles Puigdemont, and Esquerda Republicana, discussed the self-determination referendum, but the PSOE was inflexible and rejected any negotiation in this regard, even going so far as to talk about a repeat election.
There is still no date for the socialist’s inauguration. The deadline ends on November 27..
News updated at 10:51 am
Source: TSF
