I know that we have just been brand new summer and that it has taken us a long time to get here, in all areas. I know that many of us have not yet gone on holiday. I also know that a lot of people aren't going to have a vacation because they don't have a job. So it may be uninteresting to talk about autumn while we are in July.

But, in my opinion, we are obliged to name it, to name it and to prepare it. Because next fall will be very hot. Or, rather, very cold: it can be below zero when it comes to social rights. People are waiting and it is noted: there are many and several people who quote me from the extraordinary work that we are going to have in the labour or social courts from September – especially in number and character – or the new situation that is emerging. And apparently, that's what it's going to be like, yes, if no one is going to solve the growing social conflict.

I am referring, on the one hand, to collective agreements. The death of the traditional system of collective agreements. The last step in labour reform – a step backwards – began in 2010: some started the reform and others are finishing it. As we all know, collective agreements will lose their “ultra-activity” if one year elapses after the parties denounce the agreement without a new agreement being reached.

The picture is completely new, and the truth is that no one knows what solution to give it. Nobody. No employers, no unions, no judges... Nobody. We already know that in some companies working conditions have started to be changed – lowering – and the first cases will be brought before the courts immediately. What we do not know is the legal response that will be given to it, but also the social response that it will receive. Because how can we accept that our working conditions are constantly falling backwards? How can we recognise that in this situation, every day, we are all impoverishing and, furthermore, instead of creating jobs, still losing every day? Some have lost their jobs, others have never had work and we have all lost the rights we gain so hard.

But fall brings another thunder, yes. Also the last step backwards of the pension reform: The Spanish Government has announced that in September it will present the bill defining the pension sustainability factor. In this way, the “sustainability factor” does not seem very dangerous, but it is alert. We should not expect anything good from this initiative, either. In the spring we were aware of the report on pension reform by several experts and, if you remember, the consequences were clear: the pension system is not sustainable. What is clear, therefore, is that, with this measure too, pensions will certainly ‘cool down’, although we do not yet know how far.

Autumn is not going to be hot, no, but very cold. Working conditions cool down, our expectations and possibilities cool down, our value cools down. And what do you do about that? For what we do against the cold: to dress well, to protect our house, to gather wood, to join with our people and, grasping our arm, to move forward and to create a warmer situation. It is better to start as soon as possible because after this cold fall the red winter can arrive.