The current leader seeks to extend his mandate by acclamation despite Guinda’s alternative candidacy and presents a program of 160 concrete measures
The businessmen will choose this Wednesday whether to extend their current president, Antonio Garamendi, for another four years at the helm of the CEOE or opt for a change of course led by Virginia Guinda, the vice president of the Catalan employers’ association that they will become a real unknown on a national level until she recently decided to run against Garamendi in a surprise candidacy and not without criticism.
However, the Basque starts out as a clear favorite once he gains official support from the vast majority of major employers’ organizations. So it has the support of all areas except Catalonia; from Cepyme and ATA, and from most sectors, such as metals, hospitality, insurance, private healthcare, construction, car dealerships and manufacturers… Therefore, no result other than Garamendi’s victory is expected, despite the fact that the vote is secret , especially when it is at stake to get out of the current crisis situation due to the war in Ukraine that significantly affects the costs of companies.
However, the number of votes – out of a total of 789 – that choose Guinda or remain blank is crucial to knowing the level of internal criticism that exists within the employers against Garamendi’s leadership. Dissatisfaction with the current leadership has increased in recent months due to the adoption of the labor reform with an industry accusing the Basque of being too complacent towards the government and even a lack of dialogue and transparency within the organization itself.
To put out internal fires, Garamendi sent an extensive document to all partners – 56 pages – barely 48 hours before the elections, which, under the motto ‘Keep growing’, contains a program with 160 concrete proposals for the next four years and emphasizes that it has succeeded to put the CEOE “in his rightful place, regain his public and social attention and, more than ever, strengthen his presence in Spanish life, participate in the great national debates and promote the interests of the companies and employers in favor of the government, political parties and trade unions, taking courage from the 14 agreements reached with the government – including the labor reform, the pension reform, the first increase in the minimum wage (which caused great inconvenience to employers), the ERTE… – and another two only agreed with the unions.
Garamendi is committed to increasing industry’s weight in national GDP to ensure the resilience of the production model and quality employment, as well as creating a “more participatory organization”. These are exactly two of the flags also defended by Guinda, who, in another letter addressed to CEOE voters, is also committed to changing labor reform and adapting it to the 21st century and raising wages to bring them closer to the European average, but defends a different minimum wage per sector.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
