Good morning!
How are you doing this week? We look at France with a certain astonishment at what was the announced and resounding failure of Emmanuel Macron, president of the republic. Macron ignored the results of the polls and joined the right to appoint a conservative prime minister like Michel Barnier, who is already the most short-lived in French history. Sometimes politicians insist on challenging both mathematics and political science itself by posing situations that do not fit either parliamentary geometry or the zeitgeist (the spirit of the time), as is the case of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and his proposal for a motion of censure without support or backing.
To launch a proposal like this you have to have some certainty that you will be supported because otherwise unnecessary uncertainty will be generated. Uncertainty, the lack of certainty, makes businesspeople very nervous. It’s understandable. Budgets and strategic plans are designed, investments and the launch of new products are scheduled, personnel are hired… A change in the Government or a legislative modification can be the key to the proper functioning of a company. As the CEOE employers’ association insists on repeating, legal certainty is fundamental for business, although sometimes legal certainty is confused with regulation in accordance with what the business community demands.
But what happens when it is the company that causes insecurity by flouting the laws that other companies are complying with. This is the case of Glovo. Until now, the home delivery company has not wanted to comply with the regulations of the Ministry of Labor to avoid the abuse of false self-employed workers in the sector of digital delivery platforms. The regulations came into force on August 12, 2021, after a period of three months for companies to adapt to the obligation to contract labor. Since then, Glovo has continued to fail to comply with current legislation and accumulate million-dollar sentences.
What has happened now for Glovo’s directors to agree to comply with the Law? For the first time in Spain, a platform capitalism manager had to go to court to testify as being under criminal investigation. Oscar Pierre, founder and general director of Glovo, is accused of a crime against workers’ rights, but, and this is where the key is, he has moved from social to criminal jurisdiction.
It must be remembered that the Government modified the Penal Code to prevent abuse by false self-employed workers. The crime Pierre faces is punishable by prison sentences of six months to six years. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses Pierre of wanting to maintain the relationship between false self-employed workers and their delivery drivers to “reduce business costs” for Glovo by not guaranteeing riders a professional salary in accordance with the work day performed and stop paying the corresponding labor contributions to Social Security.
Well hand of a saint. Just one day before Pierre testified in court, Glovo changes its business model in Spain. The company’s parent company, Delivery Hero, announced that it will “change from an autonomous model to an employment-based model for its delivery drivers in Spain.” The objective, according to the company, is to “avoid further legal uncertainties that lead to an increase in contingencies”, given the legal battle ahead. “The change in operating model, limited to Glovo’s business in Spain, is expected to have an impact of approximately 100 million euros on Ebitda,” he added.
In his statement before the judge, Pierre alleged that the regularization of the working conditions of thousands of riders seeks social peace and avoid new “discussions” with the Labor Inspection, trying to separate it from his criminal case, although everything is related. For now, the judicial process will continue, to which other causes will have to be added: the company Just Eat, which does have delivery drivers hired as employees, is claiming 295 million euros from Glovo for unfair competition.
What legal security is, is that when you see that it can affect you personally, you change the business model and whatever is necessary.
The graph
The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States is going to change world trade relations. Its strategy of imposing tariffs on imports from other countries is going to harm the European Union, although Spain is going to be one of the nations that is least affected and consolidates its good economic progress. Trump already applied tariffs during his previous mandate and the response of other trading blocs was to respond in the same way, starting a trade war with the EU and China of which it is not known if there is a clear winner. “When you start considering a trade war, you can immediately see an escalation, which in my opinion is negative. It benefits no one, not the United States or Europe, or anyone really. It would induce a global reduction in GDP,” lamented Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank. Spain will be the European economy least directly damaged by the trade war, since our foreign sector is the least dependent on the United States and China, the main contenders in a tariff conflict. In this information we explain why Spain will be the economy least damaged by the trade war that is looming over the EU.
The data
This is what Catalonia stops earning each year due to the maneuvers of the richest taxpayers in “a strategy to minimize the tax burden.” This tax avoidance formula has been put on the table by the Bank of Spain researcher, Isabel Micó-Millán, who has discovered that the 0.5% with the most wealth among Catalans make capital contributions to “family businesses” before their death so that his heirs pay less taxes. The researcher has chosen the example of Catalonia to analyze the tax on inheritances and donations because, in 2014, the Generalitat carried out “an important reform” that eliminated part of the exemptions that had been established a few years before, mainly for the richest, and that are maintained or have been recently introduced in other Communities, such as Madrid or Andalusia. Singular financing is what the usual ones have. Here we explain how the rich in Catalonia avoid a third of the inheritance tax by transferring assets to family companies.
Entrepreneurs
Who pulls the strings of the real estate industry in Spain? The relationships between companies, groups and associations help to understand the framework around a basic good such as housing. The pressure groups in defense of the real estate business without interference from the Public Administration and companies in the sector are full of former political officials of different political stripes, which further muddy a market full of large owners, which has little free and more jungle. In this information we tell you who is who in the real estate lobby: from a former senior housing official to a former minister or the head of protocol of the former Royal House.
These pressure groups are the first to come out to protest after the announcement by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of the creation of a public housing company at the state level. Here we tell you when, how and for whom: the keys to the public company with which the Government wants to build affordable housing.
Every time he speaks the bread rises
“The success of Stellantis, since its creation, has been based on perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board of directors and the CEO”
Stellantis statement
Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën, Lancia, Opel, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Chrysler or Dodge are the brands that are under the Stellantis umbrella. They are emblems that are in the collective imagination of millions of people, but as companies they are experiencing one of their worst moments. On the one hand, the growing competition from Chinese manufacturers, until very recently practically unknown, is affecting sales, not only of Stellantis, but also of other iconic brands such as Volkswagen, which will result in layoffs and the factory closures. For now, the imposition of tariffs by Brussels on Chinese brands has been of little use. The Stellantis crisis has already claimed the lives of its CEO, Carlos Tavares, who is leaving the company ahead of schedule. Unfortunately it does not seem that it is only a problem of choosing managers. Here we explain how the owner of Peugeot and Fiat is losing her mind in the middle of the battle for Chinese electric vehicles and with Trump’s tariff threat.
Another company that is going through one of the most complicated moments in its history is Intel. After missing the boat on chips for mobile devices and chips for artificial intelligence, the man who had drawn up the plan to get the technology company out of the quagmire has unexpectedly announced his retirement. Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, is leaving the position effective immediately. In this link we tell you that the head of Intel is retiring in the midst of the company’s biggest historical crisis.
public good
“Herniated discs, chronic tendonitis in the rotator cuff, epicondylitis in the elbow, operated metacarpals, knee problems, mental health problems…” These are the pathologies that affect cleaning, domestic and household workers every day. care. Currently, they are diseases whose occupational origin is not recognized as such, except in some cases and after having gone through the courts. “We are making an average of 70 beds a day and are you telling me that this doesn’t hurt my back?” Mar says indignantly. Two years ago he was recognized as having a permanent disability, but with the origin of a common illness. Now, like the fight for the right to collect unemployment, the workers, organized in the Territorio Doméstico and Kellys Madrid collectives, have launched a campaign to fight for the recognition of their occupational diseases and other associated rights, such as access to early retirement for arduous professions. Here you can read a report by Laura Olías about the demand of domestic workers and hotel cleaners for the recognition of their occupational illnesses and to denounce the lack of protection they suffer.
We like competition
In this section we bring you a series of articles from other media that we found interesting:
The first newsletter of December is over. We’ll see you again next Thursday. While you can write to us at [email protected] with your proposals, complaints or ideas.
Good week!
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