Yolanda Díaz accuses the Catalan employers of “threatening” the parties to prevent the reduction of the working day

Clash between the second vice president and the Catalan employers’ association. The leader of Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre, held a press conference this Friday to express the rejection of the Catalan business community to the reduction of the working day. In this, he has warned the political parties of “what will come upon them if they vote in favor of a legislative reform of these characteristics”, he has informed El Periódico. Yolanda Díaz has called the statements a “threat” and has demanded that Sánchez Llibre “rectify.”

“In democracy, the people rule, not the companies,” said the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, on her X profile (formerly Twitter).

Díaz recalled that the employers “decided not to be part of an agreement” on this measure, which the Ministry was negotiating for eleven months with the majority unions and business organizations. Until the ‘no’ of the CEOE that voted internally on November 5, after which Labor hopes to close an “imminent” agreement with UGT and CCOO and take the rule to the Council of Ministers.

Díaz asks to “rectify”

The employers “decided to go against the rights of working people and the modernization of the country,” said Yolanda Díaz. “Now they threaten citizen representatives to prevent workers from having an extra half hour of life a day. Something that the vast majority of them want. I demand that Sánchez Llibre rectify and respect democracy,” he added.

At this Friday’s press conference, the leader of the Catalan employers’ association surrounded himself with several sectoral employers’ associations in the region to show his rejection of the measure. His act is especially relevant in the current parliamentary situation, in which all eyes are pointed at Junts, possibly the most unpredictable investiture partner of the Coalition Government and with important links in the Catalan business community.

For his part, Pepe Álvarez, leader of UGT, announced this week that he will meet next Monday, December 16, with the president of Junts per Catalunya, Carles Puigdemont, together with the general secretary of the UGT of Catalonia, Camil Ros. The general secretary of UGT has stated that his intention is for the pro-independence party to vote in favor of reducing the working day, among other matters.

“In Catalonia, close to 70% of working people are going to be directly affected by the reduction in working time. Some in half an hour, others in ten minutes,… in different ways. But this is an issue that no one should trivialize, it has great importance,” he said last week in an interview with elDiario.es.

The majority unions, CCOO and UGT, have put pressure on the political parties with the announcement of mobilizations in case they do not support the reduction of the working day.