The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, accused this Monday the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, of wanting to “destroy” social peace, “the best infrastructure in the country”, with her agreement with CCOO and UGT to reduce the working day to 37.5 hours per week.
“They want to take it on him because Zumosol’s cousin comes and is going to close deals without assessing what is happening with the economy and with small businesses such as local stores, bars and the countryside,” Garamendi denounced.
In his opinion, “what cannot be done” by the Ministry of Labor is to come “with dictatorial, populist models, to play games that have little to do with the co-responsibility that they are supposed to have.”
“We have been hearing this social monologue for a year or more (…) It is not a social dialogue agreement. A social dialogue agreement is a three-way agreement and a two-way or bilateral agreement is only between the unions and employers, which it is not,” Garamendi said in statements to Onda Cero reported by Europa Press.
The business leader has indicated that he does not dispute that there could be a political agreement to reduce working hours, but that he does “break a successful model” such as social dialogue.
Respect for signed agreements
In this sense, he has pointed out that “the least that could be done” is to repeat the collective agreements signed and in force so that “they do not blow up” with the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week.
“As a representative of the companies of this country, it seems to us that it makes no sense to have signed this. It is one thing that we have to accept it and another that we share it. It doesn’t seem serious to me and it’s not good for Spain,” insisted Garamendi, who pointed out that what employers and unions did sign was to address the issue of absenteeism from work, “which has skyrocketed and is a serious problem,” but without have done it yet.
Garamendi sees “bad faith” in the Ministry of Labor when it comes to negotiating issues that are part of the agreement with the unions for the reduction of working hours, such as the right to digital disconnection, since, as he said, they have been sent a text to which they must respond in just a few days, at the beginning of January.
Asked if he would prefer the ‘popular’ Alberto Núñez Feijóo as President of the Government, Garamendi joked that this was “a letter to the Three Wise Men.” Later, he indicated that he does not know if having Feijóo instead of Pedro Sánchez would be a gift, but he did state that he does not share “populist” measures, such as fiscal ones, which are being promoted by part of the Executive.
In short, the president of the CEOE advocates a model that worked well in Spain for “many years”, that of “alternation” and majorities, and has expressed his desire for the two major parties called to govern to reach agreements. of great magnitude” on important topics. “And that’s what we miss. And whether we like it or not, we are governed by minorities and the extremes of both,” he criticized.
Regarding the Spanish economy, Garamendi has celebrated its good progress, but has warned of the evolution of the industrial sector in Spain, which is “the engine of the economy and is not as good as it is being told.”
In addition, it has warned of the economic situation of two of the main clients in Spain, France and Germany. “That Germany is catching a cold is not good news and that France is in the situation it is in is worse,” he stressed.
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