According to 2025 data from the Active Population Survey analyzed by the union, unpaid overtime accounts for 44.5% of the total. This situation, as stated by Perea, not only harms workers but also hinders the creation of 1,150 full-time jobs in the province.

The union leader criticized many companies for extending working hours instead of hiring new staff, a practice she believes does not stem from genuine production needs but from an abusive business strategy. She also noted that these overtime hours are often not voluntary, with employees feeling compelled to work them for fear of losing their jobs, leading to “endless” shifts that severely impact health and work-life balance.

Perea described it as “scandalous” that nearly half of the overtime hours are unpaid, calling it “fraud against workers and a clear situation of labor exploitation.” She also warned of the detriment to public coffers, as these hours do not contribute to Social Security.

In this context, the general secretary of CCOO Huelva strongly criticized the stance of some Huelva business owners, accusing them of maintaining a “retrograde” attitude by opposing measures such as reducing the working day, which, she argued, demonstrates a “widespread abuse of overtime.”

Huelva's problem is part of a broader situation in Andalucía, where in 2025, over 646,000 weekly overtime hours were recorded, with 37.9% of them unpaid. Across the autonomous community, nearly 92,000 people worked overtime each week, and over 38,000 of them did not receive payment for a portion of those hours.

With 45,990 weekly overtime hours, Huelva is in an intermediate position within Andalucía in terms of volume, but with a high percentage of unpaid hours. CCOO Huelva has urged workers to report these abusive situations, encouraging them to contact the union to combat these ongoing power abuses in many companies in the province.