Collective bargaining as the architect of working time: flexibility and co responsibility strategies in the era of decent work

Abstract

Collective bargaining plays a transformative role in shaping working hours and work schedules. Under today’s paradigm of decent work, it is clear that working time has ceased to be a purely quantitative measure and has instead become a space for strategic negotiation. This study explores how collective agreements are crafting new formulas of bidirectional flexibility, designed both to enhance business competitiveness and to meet workers’ need to regain control over their time through temporal sovereignty.

Through a legal analysis, the paper examines trends drawn from social reality and recent judicial rulings that debate the compatibility of these measures with current legislation. Among the most notable are the four‑day workweek, digital disconnection as a barrier against the “infinite workday,” and the right to adapt working hours based on principles of co‑responsibility. The analysis highlights the importance of working‑time recording not only as an administrative control tool but also as a labour‑health imperative to ensure the effective enjoyment of rest periods.

It concludes that collective autonomy is the most effective instrument for humanizing the digital and productive transition. Collective agreements operate as a “tailor-made suit” capable of arbitrating balanced solutions, ensuring that flexibility—far from devolving into a precarious regime of permanent availability—becomes a mechanism of mutual benefit that protects health, privacy, and the sustainability of the productive system.