35-hour week spreads slowly

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Over 1998-2000, the possible introduction of a 35-hour working week was a particularly hot topic in Spanish industrial relations. Here we review the spread of the 35-hour week up until the end of 2001, finding that nearly 1.4 million workers now have an agreed 35-hour week, with more progress made in the public sector than the private. However, it appears that the issue is no longer as prominent as it was.

In the late 1990s, the issue of introducing a 35-hour working week became highly topical in Spain, notably following the adoption of France's first 'Aubry law' on the issue in June 1998 (FR9806113F). The Spanish debate became particularly heated in 1999 (ES9902297F), with great trade union pressure for the introduction of the 35-hour week, which met with strong opposition from the the conservative People's Party (Partido Popular, PP) government.

Here we review the spread of the 35-hour week three years on. There has been some progress in the public sector, particularly in authorities where the PP is not in power, but in the private sector progress has been very slow. At the end of 2001, there was a total of 1,352,600 workers on an agreed 35-hour week in the public and private sectors - according to a report issued by the General Workers' Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) in April 2002 (El avance de las 35 horas en España[The progress of the 35-hour week in Spain]) - though some thousands more have a 35-hour week in practice.

The 35-hour week in the public sector

According to UGT, almost 68% of the public sector workers employed by the regions (autonomous communities) - 691,335 out of a total of 1,025,445 - are now on a 35-hour week thanks to a series of agreements (though not collective agreements in the strict sense) reached since 1998. This represents 10 of the 17 Spanish regions - Andalusia (ES9809282N), Navarre (ES9907144N), Madrid, Castilla-la Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands (ES0003279F), Asturias, the Basque Country (ES0007198N) and Rioja. In some of these regions, overtime has been eliminated through agreements to replace it with the creation of new jobs. In other regions, 'obligatory' overtime is now compensated with time off.

In local government, 75 collective agreements for local authorities registered at the Ministry of Labour had established a 35-hour week in 1997, affecting 12,635 workers. At the end of 2001 there were 190 local authority agreements establishing a 35-hour week, affecting 28,317 workers. The 35-hour week has also, says UGT, been established de facto in many local authorities, but this is not laid down in a formal agreement owing to strong pressure from central government, which has threatened to challenge such agreements. This is the situation of some of the largest city councils in the country, including Madrid and Barcelona, which have introduced the 35-hour week on a basis other than a formal agreement..

Nearly 50,000 administrative and service staff in universities have achieved a 35-hour week through collective agreements or ad hoc pacts. However, agreements to this effect in autonomous state bodies have been challenged by central government.

In total, including provincial corporations and other bodies, 440 collective agreements establishing the 35-hour week had been signed in the public sector by the end of 2001, affecting 190,942 workers (this figure excludes university staff and the deals introducing the 35-hour week in regional government, which, are not collective agreements as such).

Turning to central government, the 35-hour week has had no impact - the 760,000 or so workers employed by the state public administration have a working week of 37.5 hours established by a resolution of the Secretariat General of the Civil Service (Secretaría General de la Función Pública). This group also includes university lecturers and teachers at other levels of education for which responsibility has not been transferred to the regional governments.

In general, shorter working hours in the public sector have not involved pay cuts, and overtime has been reduced or eliminated in some cases.

The 35-hour week in the private sector

Working time in the private sector has changed more slowly. In 1997, according to UGT, there were 76 collective agreements laying down a 35-hour week, covering 78,902. At the end of 2001, there were 422 agreements covering 420,510 workers (an example is the agreement at the El País newspaper - ES9904221N). These agreements have been reached mainly in large and medium-sized companies - probably explained by strong trade union organisation.

These company-level accords on working time reduction tend to be accompanied by agreements on its reorganisation. Also, the subject of overtime has often not been dealt with, or not fully, so the agreed working hours may be very different from the real ones, particularly among temporary and part-time workers, who have less power. In these cases, the agreed working time may be extended at the convenience of the company. The average declared overtime per worker is currently over 100 hours per year, which is far above the legal limit. The real amount of overtime, however, is considerably greater.

Social partners changing their position?

From 1998 to 2000, the main period of debate on the subject, the majority trade unions had a clear position: they called for the introduction of the 35-hour week through a framework law establishing the basic elements of the change, with adaptation to companies and sectors through collective bargaining. In 1999, UGT, the union confederation that was most convinced of the need for legislation, even collected signatures for a popular legislative initiative - a procedure that allows citizens to propose legislation if they collect a certain number of signatures of support - which achieved sufficient signatures but was never put before parliament (ES9912266N). Today, the possibility of legislation seems more distant, but the opposition Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE) still maintains it in its proposals.

The unions have been able to act to achieve the 35-hour week only through bargaining. In the public sector, they have obtained the support of the regional and local authorities governed by left-wing parties, which has facilitated the conclusion of agreements. In the private sector, agreements have been more difficult, arguably because of the success of a new strategy adopted by employers: negotiating the reorganisation of working time.

The employers' organisations have advised against negotiating shorter working hours in isolation. They instead advise negotiating the general reorganisation of working time, including topics such as flexible and irregular distribution of working time linked to pay. Many companies have annualised working time (reaching levels close to the equivalent of a 35-hour week) to make it variable in line with the time of year, the day of the week or market needs (ES0108157F). There has thus been an increase in the flexibility of working time, the use of shifts, flexitime and different schedules from one week to the next (ES9909150F).

Many of these changes have not only been linked to an effective reduction in annual working time, but also sometimes to commitments to maintain jobs or to control overtime. For these reasons, the trade unions and company-level workers' committee s have agreed to bargain on these topics, seeking agreement on flexible working time and trying to obtain as much notice as possible of changes. Since 1999, over 20% of collective agreements have provided for the irregular distribution of annualised working time. In 1999 and 2000, this affected over 3.5 million workers each year. The forms of this irregular distribution vary: sometimes they give great freedom to the company to establish the distribution and sometimes the agreement of employee representatives is necessary.

Commentary

The subject of shorter working hours and the symbolic 35-hour week are now approached on two levels: the actual duration of working time and how it is distributed. In terms of the working week, the average number of normal weekly hours established in collective agreements in 2001 was 38.5, which puts Spain at slightly above the EU average (TN0202103U). Real working time is in fact considerably higher because of official and unofficial overtime. Annualisation can also lead in some months to working days of nine hours or weeks of 45 hours. This does not take into account the time taken to get to and from work, which in large cities can be considerable.

Recent research shows that the subject of how working time is distributed is taking on increasing importance. In many companies, the annual agreed working time may be very flexible. Working time may vary according to the time of year or day of week in sectors such as construction, hotels and catering, retail and transport. The number and variability of shifts has been increased. All of this means that many workers are losing control over their working time, which often leads (though not always) to a worsening of their working conditions and of their general living conditions, because this flexibility may come into conflict with the regular schedules of other areas of life.

In larger companies, the irregular distribution of working time tends to be controlled by workers' representatives, so its consequences are mitigated. In small companies, however, where worker representation is weak or non-existent, flexible working time is beyond the control of the workers and their representatives. In fact, flexible working time is being exchanged for other advantages or is simply being imposed. The control of this flexibility should be one of the main trade union concerns.

In this situation, the 35-hour week is losing significance, because according to the circumstances a working week of 40 hours or more may be necessary. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the private sector, because in the public sector the activity and work are far more standardised. Working time is also losing importance for workers and their representatives (workers' committees or trade unions) in the face of a far greater problem: the risk of losing their jobs or their employment stability. (Fausto Miguélez, QUIT-UAB)