Negotiations for labor reform have taken a turn in the scenario. Employers attended the meeting with the government and unions yesterday with a proposal for the maximum in which they categorically rejected temporary processing measures, and went even further by asking questions regarding internal flexibility and dismissals, which unions received almost as a provocation.
The response to this unexpected employer strategy was given today by CEOE chief Antonio Garamendi in an interview with the Financial Times, as he requested time and reduced claims to achieve the agreement requested by Brussels, warning the government that “agreement on lower bounds could be more effective.” , with (this time available), of disapproval of the maximum limits.”
Moreover, he considers that the rush is not good and that the commitment to hand the reform to Brussels before December 31 “was the government’s choice,” indicating that it would be entirely possible to extend the negotiations beyond that date. Although he does not indicate that the counterpart will be a delay in the next disbursement of 12,000 million euros of European money next year.
It’s this delay that the executive doesn’t even want to hear, so Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz herself insisted again this week that the government would “fulfill its commitment” with Brussels, hinting that labor reform would be introduced with or without employers’ consent.
As Garamendi justified, in the said interview with the UK’s main economic vehicle, “it is very difficult to sit down to negotiate for 20 days and to change all the regulations that affect all workers.” He insisted on warning that “sloppy reform could harm the competitiveness of companies”.
In this sense, the employer leader was willing to “improve” issues such as those referring to the use of temporary contracts, “but be careful to change things that work,” he said, referring to the 2012 reform measures adopted by the PP government and gave more Freedom for business to make decisions unilateral flexibility. Indeed, he noted in these statements that “the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Spain say that the labor reform is the reform that has ensured the recovery” of the Spanish economy.
relentless unions
But none of this seems to have convinced the unions, according to the demonstrations made today by CC OO Secretary General Unai Sordo, after hearing the business proposals document. In his view, the CEO’s recent demands seek to put “pressure” and “tension” into an open social dialogue to abolish the 2012 labor reform. For those employers who act in an “aggressive” manner against the rights of the working class, Sordo said.
Thus, Sordo warned that if the employer remained firm in its intention not to accept measures to curb abuse of temporary labour, unions would organize protests and mobilize “high pressure”. Although Garamendi has shown himself willing to accept measures to improve high temporary hiring rates, the proposals in the document that contributed to yesterday’s negotiations can be interpreted as saying otherwise.
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