In another year, workers will demonstrate again on May 1 to demand their rights in an environment that is already clearly electoral. And again wages will be the protagonists and the CEOE, the target at which the most darts will be thrown in each of the more than seventy demonstrations that will tour Spain under the motto ‘Raise wages, lower prices, divide the benefits’ . ‘. Because it is the third consecutive year that there is no wage agreement (AENC) between unions and employers to guide the millions of workers covered by a collective agreement. The escalation of inflation, that unwanted guest who has appeared in the homes of the Spaniards without anyone calling him, makes a pact difficult. The unions will take a step forward from now on and intensify mobilizations to try and get the bosses to an agreement. And they threaten that they don’t know how they will end. The leaders of the two main trade unions in the country, UGT and CCOO, take stock of this legislature. Same questions and similar answers, showing that their symbiosis is almost perfect. – Salaries are again the main workhorse of this May 1. Isn’t that déjà vu? Unai Sordo: Yes, it may sound a bit like a repetition of the speech, but the problem is still the same: inflation well above average wage growth. Therefore, the improvement of wages for all collective agreements that we have to negotiate in 2023 must be clearly the union priority. Pepe Álvarez: The unions have weakened somewhat during the economic crisis, but what is clear is that where there are unions, wages are rising. In any case, there is no doubt that the Spanish economy has a pending issue, namely wages. -Similarly, the CEOE is again threatened that if there is no agreement, the conflict will intensify. Doesn’t it sound a bit like “the wolf is coming”? US: If there is no overall agreement that facilitates negotiations in the weakest and most precarious sectors, we will have to take a leap forward. It is no longer about each sector carrying its own dynamics, but about linking all those agreements and promoting a more general mobilization. And we already told the CEOE: these mobilizations, if they come through, you know where you enter the room, but not where you leave. They will know where they want to go. “Of course there are ongoing challenges, but it is not easy for this legislature to be implemented” PA: The union organizations have restored mobilizations where we have strength and union presence and now, from May 1, if there is no agreement What we will do is to go one step further: to coincide the mobilizations so that we can help the less unionized sectors so that they can go to a strike process with guarantees of success. And for that, we know that there is a fundamental element, which is the pickets. –From 0 to 10, how confident are you in reaching an agreement with the CEOE? VS: The issue is complicated, but I understand there will be an opportunity for negotiation. Because some sector organizations do not look too calmly at the prospect of a possible mobilization. There is a part of employers who are just waiting for the change in the political cycle, but there is another part, much more intelligent, who are aware that 2023 and 2024 will be very strategic in the use of European funds and in the implementation of very important investment decisions. And that part looks at the stage with some trepidation. PA: It is not easy with the CEOE to determine what options there are for an agreement; there are days when it seems so and there are days when it doesn’t seem. But you have to give a certain margin of confidence, even for a few days. Because there is a very important part of the business community in Spain that wants this agreement, which has huge benefits for the country. Another threat is that if there is no Collective Bargaining Agreement (AENC) it will be buried forever. Does this mean it can never be resumed? US: That’s right. We also need to launch that order. Another thing is that part of the business community is not happy with all these changes and transitions. From CC OO and we’ve discussed it with the UGT what we’re not going to do is have the AENC out of action at times when wages need to be recovered and we’ll get it back when it’s time to devalue wages or macro- economic difficulties. CEOE should be clear that if we don’t give this AENC an outlet, they will bury the tool. “No government has done so much in such a short time” PA: No, it just means we buried it. Never again does not exist for me. Now we don’t leave any expectations open in year 23. And we can bury it for good, it all depends on how we do it. And of course, we’re not going to finalize the negotiations with the CEOE in the rest of the territories. It’s not a kick in the door, it’s a slamming door. Nobody wants to start mobilizations, neither do we, but they push us to go to mobilizations. – They have met most of their demands, but I understand there will be challenges as well. US: Of course there are still ongoing challenges, because we still have a lot of shortfalls in the hiring model in Spain, there is still an excessive use of layoffs, the equestrian law only affects riders… An in-depth evaluation of the workers Statute is required. But it is not easy to think that it will happen in the rest of the legislature. PA: There are many. But I am aware that in this legislature it will not be possible to make many more agreements. – Do you rule out the possibility that severance pay will be reformed in this legislature? USA: The dismissal in Spain needs to be addressed because we have a very abusive and very cheap formula for dismissal. PA: I don’t know if the government will have time to legislate or not, but judges will have to apply higher compensation for unfair dismissal whether the government legislates or not. -There are people who accuse you of not mobilizing because there is a left-wing government. Is it the government that has given them the most? US: It is the government that has established a more ambitious social dialogue program and agreements in a succession of unprecedented crises. It is the government that has found a change of approach to the crises within the framework of the European Union and from that point of view I think we are in the three years with the greatest recovery and improvement of regulated labor rights without any kind of misgivings. PA: We mobilized against this government during the pandemic as well. They didn’t give us what we have today. We sweat it out. But I believe there is no government in the history of Spain that has done so much in such a short time as this one. I therefore understand that you would like to repeat this coalition government. USA: If in Spain at the moment an alternative to the coalition government is a government in which the far right plays a relevant role – and when I say far right I am talking about Vox, but I am talking about Díaz Ayuso and the PP of Madrid; today they are indistinguishable – it is a backward impulse that threatens Spain. We are talking about a battle between progress and backwardness. PA: What I would like is to live in a country where alignment is not at stake when voting in elections. Living in a country like Germany, where citizens, when they go to vote, do not risk their welfare state, they play a small role, because nobody changes anything about the whole. – What arguments would you give a citizen to become a member of the UGT and not of CC OO? Because in many cases you are confused. USA: I am aware that union unity is a great value for Hispanic workers. And that it is still better that the differences are not perceived too much to the extent that it creates a weak position in collective bargaining or in any field. Above all, I tell them: become a member, be organized, in this union or in another, it is decisive. And that said, by far the most solvent organization in Spain is CC OO. PA: I’m fully aware that the general public sees us as much the same. So much so that when they greet me on the street, they call me “the one from CC OO”. But it is a reality that touching it right now would not help us move forward, to grow. The merger processes of trade union organizations must always be added up. I am one of those who believe that this would be very good for the workers of my country. It would strengthen the trade union movement, but the two organizations have to be ready and it has to be a process that happens naturally.
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.
