Since its inception, the work area has been at the heart of the action of the Spanish Government coalition: The increase in the Inter-branch Minimum Wage, the generalisation of temporary employment regulation dossiers to deal with the pandemic stagnation of the economy and, of course, the reform of pensions and the “repeal/modernisation” of labour reform. With great parsimony and not without internal confrontation, it seems that the daisy is finally falling apart from these two complicated issues for which the end of 2021 is about to end. Both depend directly on the corset imposed by the European Semester, conditioning the possibility of Next Generation funds, Euskal Herria Capital Planto! As we denounce from the platform.

Apart from the “derogation/modernization” of labor reform, it seems that in the area of pensions the most neoliberal soul of the government has a significant weight, embodied by Minister Escrivá, who has its origin in the corporate environment of BBVA. Thus, after announcing a few months ago its intention to repeal the unpopular and harmful sustainability factor (the mechanism to reduce the amount of pensions promoted by the PP in the 2013 reform, in order to ultimately promote unconcealed private plans), the government has defined a tool that will eventually replace it.

In part, this decision marks the scope of the transformative vocation of the government in such a complex area. Why complex? By the exponential aging of societies such as the Basque, by the retirement of the baby boom generation, by the pressure towards corporate power and the privatisation of subjects such as the European Union, etc. Therefore, it is a framework that requires the application of far-reaching emancipatory views, referring to the community and social conception of work. Otherwise, it will be more and more likely that the numbers will not be surrendered or that there will be no real will to give them, definitively winning the pension provision the enemies of the public and the community.

In this context, it has been decided to create a “mechanism of intergenerational equity”. This mechanism entails an increase of 0.6% in the contributions of companies and workers, with the aim of returning to the “pension hucha”. The minister also proposed setting a medium-term horizon for revising the system; making cuts to future pensions, if sustainability is not yet guaranteed by that time. Sectors on the left of the PSOE have considered the agreement a step forward: in short, it would mean leaving aside the prospect of cuts in pensions, in favour of measures that put emphasis on raising revenue. This being the case in part (always awaiting the conclusion of the agreements with Brussels, which seem to be going in the opposite direction, insofar as it is a question of extending the period for calculating pensions by 10 years), we do not think it is sufficient. This is a proposal that is clearly aimed at delaying the problem towards future scenarios, without breaking the root of hegemonic governance in the area of pensions. And, of course, it turns its back on the inevitable expansion of views that this framework requires, driven from emancipatory and transformative perspectives.

In the report Emancipated Jobs in the Face of the Capitalist Offensive published in OMAL in 2020, we put on the table parameters, bets and concrete measures to fuel a new vision of work. Criteria that focus on providing a democratic and egalitarian solution to social and community needs in the face of systemic logics of domination, alienation and commodification. In particular, we propose here the de-commercialization and collectivization of the satisfaction of social needs, the de-laboralization of access to rights and the reorganization, redistribution and valuation of the socially necessary works from perspectives antagonistic to the criteria imposed by patriarchal and colonial capitalism.

The redistribution of work can be translated into many concrete measures, one of the most significant being the reduction of working time without a lowering of wages, no doubt. In the present case, this means a reduction in the retirement age, without any reduction in the amount of benefits received. On the part of Minister Escrivá, we have heard nothing in this regard, not even to reverse the 67 year rise imposed by the reform of the pp. On the contrary, taking into account previous statements, the minister promotes a culture of employment that can be extended to 75 years.

At the same time, the de-employment of access to rights and the overcoming of the “wage dictatorship” would require arming the public pension system and strengthening its non-contributory dimension. The proposal by Escrivá does not take a firm step in this direction. It is true that it is in favour of increasing the levy, rejecting for the time being the direct reduction of pensions. But the periodic review mechanism proposed opens the door to future cutbacks and logics of privatisation which, in the medium term, will be imposed with complete certainty if bold and bold measures are not taken. The Minister’s latest proposal, that of creating a parallel voluntary savings fund to supplement pensions, is nothing more than a tangible proof of what this scenario is on the table.

Furthermore, the increase in workers' contributions, in addition to the devaluation of wages (especially in the context of inflation beyond control), entails a strengthening of the contributory logic of the pension system, when the expansion of the role and the presence of the non-contributory dimension is more necessary than ever, on the basis of progressive taxation that taxes capital and wealth. In this respect, only by improving the working class’s working conditions and removing a narrow perspective from the contributory dimension (especially in the case of many women who have not had formal employment throughout their lives, who now rely on inadequate widows’ pensions to lead a dignified life) will we be able to meet this challenge for the future.

In short, in the face of the contradictory messages of the institutional proposal, we must put at the centre a daring and ambitious popular agenda: it is landed in the Basque framework of labour relations and class struggle, which combines the drop in the retirement age without cutting benefits with genuinely progressive taxation, and which makes visible the wider debate on the socially necessary tasks that are carried out inside and outside the market. The mobilizations to be held on December 1 in Hego Euskal Herria will be an unbeatable space to defend this popular agenda. Great challenges, great answers. Because we can no longer fear the outrage of those who move the wires of power.