- The economic vice-president of the Spanish Government, Nadia Calviño, has rejected the agreement signed by EH Bildu, the PSOE and Podemos. As soon as it is signed, it has warned its party, the PSOE, that this agreement must be rejected because these are times of "legal uncertainty". The employers have also expressed their views in this way and have cut off relations with the Spanish Government on this matter.
On Wednesday, 20 May, it was a day returned to the political activity of the Spanish State. During the day, EH Bildu, Podemos and PSOE have signed an agreement to revoke the labor reform approved in 2012 and commit to doing so before the end of the state of alarm. However, when the lights of Congress were turned off, the Head of Government has gone back; the PSOE has rectified and announced that three articles will be amended which do not override the entire labour reform.
The driving force behind this last decision was the economic vice-president of the Spanish Government, Nadia Calviño. Her ministry has always maintained that she does not intend to cancel the labor reform that pp launched in 2012, and the vice-president has pointed out that it is an inadequate situation for the current situation.
Times of legal uncertainty
Calviño has thus defined the crisis caused by the pandemic. Spain is going to have to issue this year a debt of EUR 300 billion, the largest in its history. In order to do this, it will need the help of the market, of the entrepreneurs. It will also need the assistance of the European Central Bank (ECB) to purchase European sovereign debt.
Both employers and the European Central Bank (ECB) have opposed the repeal of the 2012 labour reform. The European Commission also voted in favour of labour reform, claiming that it had helped to create jobs.
Agreement without social dialogue
The employer CEOE has cut off relations with the Government of Spain, considering that it has not propitiated the debate. He has also criticized the signing of an agreement with EH Bildu, who has been accused of "bolstering social dialogue" in the Basque Country.
Many voices have stood up against this view of the employers. In fact, many have reminded the CEOE that the labor reform approved in 2012 was launched thanks to the votes of pp and CIU, "without social interaction". The rest of the opposition parties were against the reform, considering that it allowed "precariousness and unjustified layoffs". The demonstrations were held against this labor reform and against it, affirmed that the labor reform was "imposed".
They did not complain so much when pp imposed by decree the labor reform that they commissioned him in 2012, and that he set up not only WITHOUT social dialogue, but AGAINST social dialogue, as the secretary general of CC.OO recalled today. @Pablo Sordo https://t.co/SrnLzUMiwe
— Amaia Fano (@Hemendik) May 21, 2020
The UGT trade union has taken the view of the employers who have always been in favour of the abolition of labour reform, but do not share the way in which this is done. He adds that they have not been aware of the project. It was not so critical CC.OO, that he said he agreed with the content, although he did not like the forms. ATA, the association of self-employed people, has spoken loudly, as 70% of the self-employed are at risk of losing their jobs in an alarming situation.