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LAB calls on the new Basque Government to raise wages and strengthen public services
  • He has denounced that the previous government has acted "backwards" and "unheeded" to these proposals, as he recalled. It has announced that the Basque Government will table "concrete requests" on the agenda of the announced meeting.
Julen Ugartemendia Carcedo 2024ko uztailaren 02a
LABek Lanbidearteko Gutxieneko Soldataren eskakizuna 1.400 eurokoa izatetik 1.600 eurokoa izatea arrazoitu du. Argazkia: LAB

The LAB trade union has called on the new Basque Government to increase wage dignification and to strengthen public services. They have not been the only demands of LAB, as they have asked the new government to lead the jeltzale Imanol Pradales a new political legal framework that guarantees the decision-making capacity of workers, that responds to the demands of public workers and that promotes an industrial reconversion that responds to social challenges and that companies do not lead.

Round of Basque Government meetings

Pradales has announced that the Basque Government will meet with different actors, including trade unions, to analyse the current situation. LAB has stated that "concrete demands" from trade unions and workers will be raised at that meeting. The union has been critical of the attitude of the Urkullu Government to the decision of the National Court. He said that he acted “backwards” to the demands of the workers and that he “did not listen” to the demands of the union and social struggles. He asked that "they stop doing the policies that are at the service of the employers", he added. After analysing the government agreement between the PNV and the PSE, he stressed that "there is no will to make profound changes" and criticised that the management of the previous four years has been "praised".

One of the priorities for LAB is to dualize wages to redistribute wealth and update them above the CPI. The trade union has stressed that, as a result of not doing so, "income from labour is transferred to capital income and wealth is being distributed more and more unfairly". LAB has been critical of employers and the administration and has said that employers should be asked to pay more and that the administration should be an example.

He has called for the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI) to be "proportionate to the socioeconomic reality of our area". The European Social Charter (LGS) recommends that the average salary of the territory be 60%, which would mean in Hego Euskal Herria a salary of 1,600 euros in fourteen pages, according to LAB. LAB says that the 2020 General Strike called for a cross-sectoral agreement on the SMI, but stresses that neither Confebask nor the previous Employment Plenary have had any initiative. LAB has stated that it will not participate in the Social Dialogue Bureau because it is a table "which does not respect majorities".

Public services

Another priority of the union is to strengthen public services. Osakidetza stressed that the situation is "particularly serious". They denounce that the conditions of public employees cannot be imposed from Madrid: “Here we have to decide, strengthening local collective bargaining.” LAB has assured that it will listen to the proposal for a People's Agreement proposed by Imanol Predales, but that two conditions will be laid down.

On the one hand, he has called for “political will for a profound change in the neoliberal and clientele policies in force in Osakidetza”. The trade union has stressed the need to increase investment and the end of the policy of privatization and concertation in the Basque Country. On the other hand, he has called for “direct participation of workers and negotiation with them”, as “the previous department has acted with taxation and without negotiation”. They have called for an end to privatization policies and for workers' working conditions to be dignified, and they have denounced that they are in a situation of "precariousness and exploitation".