Three days after the altercation and tension experienced in Paiporta, during the king’s visit to ground zero of the DANA catastrophe organized by the Royal Family, Felipe VI summoned employers and unions to the Zarzuela Palace. The social agents, a symbol of the capacity for agreement, especially during the COVID emergency, have been summoned to a meeting with the head of state this Wednesday. Although the audience has been focused on the “content”, on the damage and emergencies left by the catastrophe, the “need for unity” and to escape from the political battle have also occupied a large space, they explain to this medium from the social agents.
“The business world has come to be with the world of institutions and, in any case, to ask for unity. I think it is the key: that politics be left aside, society is demanding something else,” said Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE employers’ association, upon leaving the meeting with the monarch this morning.
The business delegation present at the meeting with Felipe VI included the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, the president of CEPYME, Gerardo Cuerva, the president of ATA, Lorenzo Amor, and the president of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV). , Salvador Navarro, the president of CEV Valencia, Eva Blasco, the president of CEOE Castilla-La Mancha (CECAM), Ángel Nicolás, and the vice presidents of CEOE, Alejandra Kindelán (AEB banking association) and Mirenchu del Valle (insurance association UNESPA); as well as the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez.
“What you are claiming [la sociedad] It is that all of us together, all of us, there is no one left over, really, let’s get down to it, to work. Not just today, tomorrow, the day after and next year. Because this is going to take time,” Antonio Garamendi insisted.
For their part, the leaders of the majority unions CCOO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, held their meeting with Felipe VI during the afternoon. “I think this is the moment, first of all, for unity,” agreed the UGT leader, who added that Spain must demonstrate that it is “a State that can and must address the needs of the people affected by DANA.” ”.
The unions and the majority employers’ associations in fact called yesterday to carry out a 10-minute strike in all workplaces throughout the country in “solidarity” for DANA, next Friday, November 8, at 12 in the morning. In the call, they also mention the need for “unity.”
“Lesson” of unity in the face of political tension
Various business and union sources consulted highlight that the meetings with the monarch have been very focused on “the content”, in which Felipe VI has taken note of the needs and concerns that the social agents have detected for the DANA. All organizations insist on the magnitude of the damage and the need for a country strategy to deal with the damage and then be able to revitalize the area after the disaster caused by DANA.
The business leader referred to the first aid package approved this Tuesday by the Government, worth 10.6 billion euros, which he valued although he noted that surely “more will be needed.” “I want to clarify something: this is not COVID. When COVID ended, the shops and businesses were spotless, impeccable… There is no economy here, everything has been devastated,” the president of CEOE emphasized.
However, when asked by the media, the leader of the employers’ association did not want to criticize the Executive. “If I ask for unity, what I am not going to start is criticizing. There are some measures, possibly there will have to be more, but when they arrive,” he indicated. “From the point of view of the measures, I am not in the criticism, I am more in the opinion that we are going to evaluate them. And logically we are going to raise more,” said the leader of the employers’ association.
This constructive spirit, based on “unity” and “social dialogue”, has also been defended by the general secretaries of CCOO and UGT, and was one of the distinctive flags of social agents during the coronavirus emergency, against to political parties that are often at odds and unable to reach agreements.
Since then, political tension has only increased, inside and outside Parliament. With extreme examples, such as the complaint announced by Vox against the Government and the defenses even of the attack on Pedro Sánchez in Paiporta, but also with weak messages against the violence of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s Popular Party, which -however- moderated its tone in recent days, after what happened in Paiporta.
The social agents consider that this “lesson” of the social agents during COVID, as leaders of agreement and collaboration in times of emergency and crisis, endures and is not alien to anyone, including the Royal House, which after the climate of tension and tension in Paiporta, it has been decided to meet with the employers and unions.
In this sense, Unai Sordo called on the Government to deploy “a great social shield”, with more measures than those already approved in this first package, and to implement them as soon as possible through “social dialogue.” “We have expressed the need to reactivate a social dialogue process, which bore many fruits in the previous crisis. It is time to execute,” the CCOO leader insisted.
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