The former economic vice-president of the Zapatero government,

Elena Salgado

, launches labor proposals in her current stage in the private sector that are the opposite of her political speeches.

Salgado is currently executive president of the consulting employers' association that has put on the table an agreement to

"unilaterally impose work days of up to 12 hours a day without any additional compensation," the CCOO denounces in a statement.

During her time in the Government, the head of Economy defended in Parliament improving the rights of workers and promoting conciliation in working life

.

In the last agreement of the sector

, already expired, a limit of "nine hours a day" was set.

Salgado chairs the

Association of Consulting Companies (AEC), which brings together, among others, Indra, Capgemini, Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, EY, KPMG or Unisys and his proposal for a new agreement "seeks to make the sector even more precarious," he says the union in a harsh statement.

"It seems very good to us that these companies want to maximize profits, but this is indecent," the head of the sector at CCOO,

Raúl de la Torre

, told this newspaper .

He assures that the AEC has proposed to them in writing that the weekly distribution of the working day be capped at

"twelve ordinary daily hours of effective work

. "

De la Torre maintains that "for the employers the accounts are clear, they

aspire to cover the entire day with two people in 12-hour shifts instead of three in eight-hour shifts

as before, thus reducing by 33% the costs of hiring".

He points out that this implies giving these large consultants the right to "increase the working day by 50% without compensation."

The trade unionist points out that Salgado is not attending the meetings in person, but demands that he "withdraw the proposal."

"Otherwise, we will have no choice but to continue with a communication campaign

that will lead to demonstrations and the calling of a strike in the sector

if this remains on the table."

The sector agreement expired in 2019 and the new one is currently in full negotiation.

Working conditions in large consulting firms have been the subject of controversy for some time and there have been lawsuits that have reached the Supreme Court.

"Despite what people may believe, graduates enter these large firms with starting salaries of 14,000 euros," says the CCOO representative.

UGT is going hand in hand with CCOO in the negotiation

in which they also reject another approach by the employers to extend the day to Saturday without compensation and that it is enough to notify an employee with five calendar days to suppress, for example, the intensive day in summer.

The Salgado employers raises this notice when it comes to being able to "carry out an irregular distribution of the working day in a percentage of 15% of the annual working day agreed in the collective agreement for each of the years."

For his part, Salgado defended in his latest official statement the growing importance of the sector in promoting the digitization of the State.

"The notable increase in the amount of tenders for IT [information technology] services in 2021 highlights

the important role played by the consulting sector in the digitization of Public Administrations

.

From the AEC we hope that this collaboration will be closer and closer and that public institutions continue to rely on consultants to speed up their modernization, and make the most of the Funds for economic recovery," said the president of the AEC on March 31 According to its report, "the amount of public tenders for consulting and IT services has increased by more than 70% in 2021, reaching 4,405.52 million euros, compared to 2,585.13 million euros in the previous year."

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