Unions are selling the reduction in working hours as a 7% pay raise and are calling for a protest in front of Congress.

Unions are pessimistic about the vote on the amendments to the bill to reduce working hours, which will take place next Wednesday afternoon. If there is no change in the script in the next 48 hours, the law promoted by Yolanda Díaz based on the agreement signed with the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) and the Workers' Union (UGT) will be rejected and returned to the government, preventing a substantive debate on the content that seeks to establish 37.5 hours as the maximum working week. However, they refuse to give up the battle and have called for demonstrations across the country to save the measure, which they estimate could mean a pay increase of up to 7% for workers who work 40 hours a week.

The secretaries of the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) and the Workers' Union (UGT), Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, admitted this Monday that they had not prepared a schedule of mobilizations to demand shorter working hours, given that they estimated this vote would take place—at the earliest—at the end of September. Therefore, they have improvised a series of demonstrations, of which they have only made public the details of the one that will take place in Madrid next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. in the Plaza de las Cortes, in front of the Lower House, where deputies will be deciding whether to halt the Ministry of Labor's initiative.

"Reducing working hours is a way to improve the hourly wages of those with the least resources, who, if they work 40 hours a week , will see their hourly wages increase by almost 7% , such as security guards," stated the leader of Comisiones Obreras (Workers' Commissions). The unions argue that this regulation would support the work already being done in collective bargaining, where the agreements signed up until the summer already included an average working day of 1,712 hours per year —the equivalent of 37.5 hours, according to negotiators—but that it would represent a "boost" for those sectors that have lagged behind, since in their opinion, it is untrue that some, such as the hospitality, cleaning, and retail sectors, cannot afford it.

"We want to draw the attention of citizens to what is being voted on. Their lordships will have the opportunity to present their arguments as to whether one of the issues most desired by workers can be debated or not in the Congress of Deputies" stated Álvarez, who has emphasized that the reduction of working hours has the support of the majority of citizens and the backing of more than 70% of Junts voters, one of the three parties that has presented an amendment to the whole and which is in the spotlight for having in its hand to ensure that specific changes to the Bill are debated or stopped in this first debate .

For Sordo, the measure's popularity is what has led the PP, Vox, and Junts to prevent a substantive discussion. "It seems that there are political groups that want to avoid the debate because they know their position is very unpopular, and instead of deliberating on the pros and cons, they prefer a comprehensive amendment to a law that is extremely important for the people who would be affected and that has a significant gender bias," she argued. According to statistics handled by unions, the reform of working hours would benefit women more , since they are the ones who work more part-time days, and the text reserves their right to continue working the same hours with an implicit pay increase.