The president of the Basque employers, Confesbask, sees no reason for calling for a strike on Thursday. He said so in a quarter hour interview with the microphones of the Basque Country Irratia this morning. Zubiaurre has considered that the issues addressed in the call for strike are "state-wide" and has considered that a call like this "will bring the bad things".

"Let's see if everyone's freedom to work and work is respected," Confesbask's spokesman said.

Positive data and comparisons

In particular, he compared the data of the Spanish State with those of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa to explain his position: "Predictably next year will be the year that we obtain the most members in the Social Security, we are also at the highest in undefined contracts, is aware that the wage average is one of the highest in the Basque Country, our pensions are also the highest, we are the community where income is also more developed...".

Questioned as to whether it would be appropriate to compare it with Europe, Zubiaurre said that in some variables the CVD revolves around the EU average, as in GDP, but also stated that: "In unemployment we are above average, but not far from average," he said. Data published by Gaindegia belies what the Confesbask spokesman said: Unemployment in the Basque Country as a whole stands at 9.1% according to Eustat data, followed only by Catalonia, Spain, Italy and Greece, with an EU average of 6.4% and Germany of 3.2%.

Confesbask's view of the gender pay gap

Asked about the pay gap between men and women, Zubiaurre pointed out that, according to Confesbask, there are two main reasons: "On the one hand, education", explained, "what educational level men and women have; and on the basis of educational opportunities, and therefore, the trajectories and job opportunities are different"; on the other, it has pointed out a "much more general" reason, "how domestic and work coexistence is still shared between men and women in our society". There, women still have more weight and this affects their possibilities in the workplace".

However, these reasons given by Confebask do not coincide with research on the gender gap: As stated in the report "Gender gaps in the labour market of the Basque Country" published last year by Emakunde, the educational level of women is higher than that of men: Only 16 per cent have compulsory studies at most (male data up to 21 per cent) and the percentage of women with higher education is higher than that of men (61 per cent in the first case and 55 per cent in the second). When crossing with wage levels, gender inequality is evident.

In favour of the Rajoy labour reform

The spokesman for Confesbask also referred to the labour reform that the Government of Mariano Rajoy launched in 2012. "It's a very positive assessment," he said. "The labour market that was before was very rigid, and an example of this is that whenever there were crises, many jobs were lost, unemployment was rising a lot," he said. "Starting in 2012, working conditions changed, a new climate of trust was created, a different work context, and this has greatly facilitated the recovery of the two million jobs at the state level."

Zubiaurre has also predicted that the coalition government formed by the PSOE and the United Nations Podemos in Spain "would have a debate" should this reform be repealed.