The president of the Spanish Association of Consulting Companies (AEC) and former vice president of the Government,

Elena Salgado

, suspends the negotiations of the sector agreement 'sine die' after a strong clash with the Workers' Commissions for the 12-hour working day.

In an unusual statement from the AEC, the employers' association that brings together Indra, Deloitte, KPMG or EY, among others, meets the statements made to this newspaper on the eve of the CCOO coordinator in the consulting sector,

Raúl de la Torre

, and accuses the union of acting "in a manner incompatible with good faith", for which "the AEC has decided to postpone the scheduled sessions of the Collective Agreement until the conditions that allow a negotiation to be carried out in accordance with the elementary principles that should preside over relations between employers and workers".

The union leader accused the employers' association chaired by the former minister of wanting to

"unilaterally impose the 12-hour working day"

and "seek to make the sector even more precarious."

The AEC does not deny that it has put on the table a proposal for an agreement with a day of that duration, but for "specific cases" to be able to respond to the "very complex projects" of the consultants.

CCOO, the majority in the sector, maintains in a statement that with this possibility of extending the day, the large consultants intend to save contracts and reduce the day's shifts to two, which the employer rejects.

"The companies of the AEC have increased the number of people employed, on a recurring basis, even during the years of the pandemic, and they wish to continue increasing the number of their professionals in the future."

In his opinion, "it should be reiterated that

it is about establishing in the agreement the possibility of extending that usual working day in specific cases

, respecting in any case the total hours of work and the set of labor regulations."

Salgado has been "executive president" of the AEC since 2016 and in the previous collective agreement, which expired in 2019, a maximum of nine hours a day was established, but the current proposal is that they can reach twelve.

CCOO maintains that either the former minister withdraws that proposal or there will be mobilizations and strikes in the country's large consulting firms.

The employers' association chaired by Salgado responds that "the companies of the AEC are leading companies in the adoption of conciliation measures" and that this is compatible "with the flexibility in the organization of the working day on which they are discussing, flexibility that It is essential for the development of

very complex projects such

as those carried out by AEC companies, in areas such as the digitalization of companies and Public Administrations".

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