History has repeated itself once again. Similar to what happened in July 2010 and in May 2011, labor reform agreements are hanging by a thread. Both labor unions and business owners have quieted their demands, which barring any last minute surprises leaves the outcome in the hands of the Spanish government.
Four days away from the new government-imposed deadline for coming to terms, the discord stems from four topics: structural reform of agreements, linking salaries with productivity, fostering internal mobility, and reducing the costs associated with layoffs.
Business owners have put their heaviest requests on the table according to UGT's Secretary General. CEOE wants to avoid scanty labor reform, said vice president Arturo Fernández. After a meeting that was held yesterday, social agents affirmed that today they are going to expound on a document that explains points that have not been agreed to yet and then communicate them to the government.
20 days severance for laid-off workers
In order to ensure a successful labor reform, business owners are asking for cheaper layoff capabilities for the next two fiscal years: 20 days severance for employees fired with reasonable cause and 12 days for those with reasonable cause.
This proposal is far from what the unions want. CCOO and UGT have already put their "no" on the table. Further, they know that the national government is also not in favor of the measure, so they are not afraid of leaving the issue up in the air considering that the government will not follow the CEOE's instructions.
They are only open to negotiating several contract modifications such as one associated with part-time hours. In this arena, agreements are almost finalized. They could agree to an extension of overtime hours for part-time workers, which would lead into a flexible contract that could be adapted during times of peak production in exchange for modifying unemployment benefits, which when paid in a comparable way, a full day of unemployment would be paid. But several question marks remain. For example, will business owners decide how to apportion the overtime hours?
Internal mobility
Along these lines, CEOE is also demanding that the business owner can better control his workers' hours in order to foster greater internal flexibility for his company. In collective bargaining reforms during 2011, it was established that a company could utilize five percent of the working day to facilitate staff availability, but companies are asking for at least fifteen percent.