The general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has issued a new warning to the Government this Wednesday by reminding that "either it complies, or social dialogue is affected" in relation to the commitment to advance the decree on time registration, following the ultimatum issued by UGT and CCOO at the end of July.
In an interview on RNE, when questioned about the scope of that ultimatum, Álvarez clarified that the decree regarding time registration "is not a closed agreement with the unions," so he insisted that "it is evident that the Government either complies, or social dialogue is affected."
The union leader emphasized that the modification of time registration is "absolutely essential" and recalled that "there are 3 million overtime hours that are worked in our country every week and that are not reported or appear anywhere."
This volume of hours, he indicated, represents "a salary hole for the people who do those hours, for collection for Social Security, for collection for the Public Treasury," so he demanded that "immediately all means be used," which "today are many from a digital point of view," considering that the reform cannot be delayed any longer.
Commitment of the Ministry of Labor with the decree
Also this Wednesday, the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, reiterated at the press conference evaluating the unemployment data that the Ministry's intention is for the decree that will regulate time registration to arrive "as soon as possible" to the Council of Ministers, denying that there are currently differences between Labor and Economy on this matter.
Pérez Rey explained that the Government's will is for the text to be submitted to the Council of Ministers "as soon as possible," although he specified that it will be necessary to adjust "to the programming of the Council of Ministers itself" and to the issues presented by other departments.
CEPYME warns of the impact on microenterprises
In parallel, the president of Cepyme, Ángela de Miguel, who also participated in the RNE program, warned of the complications that, in her opinion, the reform of time registration may generate for microenterprises.
"We have been in a few years where we have 25,000 fewer microenterprises than we had in the time before the pandemic," she indicated, attributing this decline largely to "the regulatory overload that exists."
De Miguel has pointed out that there are "many companies with one or two workers that do not have to be digitalized" and "many in areas where coverage does not reach," in addition to reminding that "none have an IT department."
In this line, he has raised several doubts about the practical application of the reform: "What is going to happen when the system crashes? How long is it going to take for someone to come? Who is going to pay all those costs?".
Likewise, he has pointed out that large companies "already have electronic or digital mechanisms to control the schedules in the vast majority" and has warned that the new regulation may "complicate the life of the smaller company," which would have to assume "one more burden" along with other existing costs.