The Ministry of Finance and Public Function has accepted with conditions the reduction to 35 hours of the working day of the employees of the public companies ADIF and ADIF AV, among which are requirements to maintain the productivity of the employees or apply the reduction from the moment of signing, something contrary to what was agreed and that keeps the parties involved in suspense. The leadership of both companies, which operate under the same criteria, sealed a preliminary agreement in March with the unions to apply this reduction in hours, to the same extent that it is already applied in other public companies such as the Renfe group.
But at the end of June, just as the first deadline set by the company and workers to try to reach a formula to implement this new day was coming to an end, the directors of both companies opted to unilaterally execute their hourly proposal with effect from July 1 before the lack of response from the cabinet of María Jesús Montero, who had not exposed her demands until then. This lack of consensus stirred up the unions, which initiated various protest actions in this regard.
Once the response from the ministry was received, later than unexpectedly expected, the management of the companies convened the negotiating committee to report the conditions set by the Civil Service for its approval. These include limits on the increase in spending associated with the measure, so that it may not involve additional spending, or that the productivity or operation of the companies is not reduced. This would be, a priori, difficult to fit into some mermaid templates due to the significant wave of retirements that affects the entire public administration.
Battle for the retroactivity of the measure
The Treasury denies that the application of the 35-hour day can go back to December 23, 2022, the date on which the General State Budgets for the current year were approved and that both the company and the unions sealed the start date to account for the new hours. .
In fact, the Public Function has requested in its letter that this reduction in working hours begins to count from the moment the agreement is signed. This still maintains, to this day, the annual hours per employee at 1,642, compared to the 1,536 expected for this year.
In Comisiones Obreras they describe the opinion of the Treasury as a “jug of cold water”, since “until this circumstance occurs, the agreement cannot enter into force,” according to a statement. It shows his “perplexity” when he understands “that the company already had the necessary authorizations for the negotiation that was already taking place.”
UGT criticizes the “lack of negotiating capacity” of the company, which it accuses of “not having the authorization to apply the agreement reached in March.” For their part, the CGT criticizes the Ministry’s requirement that it does not entail additional budgetary costs and that, therefore, new employment cannot be created, “just the opposite of what is contemplated in the Framework Agreement for a 21st Century Administration” endorsed by the union forces and the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diaz, last year.
The unions anticipate “a scenario of conflict” in the event that the reduction in working hours is not applied retroactively. According to reports, ADIF and ADIF AV are negotiating with the Public Function that the date of entry into force of this agreement is March 16, 2023. The company hopes to resolve this situation before the end of September.
