PP, Junts and Vox have laid on Wednesday in Parliament the bill to reduce the maximum working day without wage reduction, of the current 40 hours approved in the 80s at 37 and a half a week, the star measure the vice president Yolanda Díaz and to add for this legislature. The votes of the conservative formations and Ultra have joined to make the amendments prosper to the totality against the legislation, agreed by the Government with the majority unions and that has kept against the employers. The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has criticized parliamentary defeat, for “hitting 12.5 million workers,” but has trusted that the measure will triumph in the future. “It is won on the street,” he insisted, a very hard speech with Junts.
This Wednesday's vote has valued three amendments to the entire PP, Junts and Vox against the bill, which involve starting the legislation without entering to discuss its content in the process of amendments, in which political parties can negotiate and agree on changes and proposals. After the result, the Employers CEOE and Cepyme have “grateful” to the political parties their rejection of the law. This veto without the opportunity for debate has been nevertheless the greatest criticism by the workers of workers, which have demonstrated on Wednesday in 52 cities throughout the country and in a protest this afternoon in Madrid against Congress. Also of the Ministry of Labor, which had opened to negotiate the content of the norm, such as recovering direct aid to the companies most impacted by the measure, such as SMEs.
In Junts, deputy Josep María Cervera has defended that the reduction of the working day is a “personal project” by Yolanda Díaz, not a need for the working population, since “what he wants is stability and decent salaries.” Even so, Cervera has affirmed that Junts has been “willing to talk about work time”, in addition to other measures that “stop drowning” Catalan self -employed and SMEs, but “there has been no agreement.”
For its part, the Popular Party (PP) has rejected the bill because it has argued that it is “invaded by ideology” against “the reality of the productive fabric”, so it has predicted “a hard blow to employment,” said Deputy Juan Bravo. The PP Economy Manager has affirmed that before reducing the day, Spain has to be “more productive.” In addition, he has criticized the sanctions for irregularities in the day registry and schedules as “disproportionate.”
From Vox, deputy José María Figaredo has defended the veto of the extreme right party because he has affirmed that the reduction of the day “is a trap” that will “destroy employment”, so the workers are going to spend “40 hours to zero”, a phrase that they had already used in the same direction in Junts.
The vast majority of political formations in Congress, except for the conservatives of UPN, have lamented that the law cannot initiate its processing. “What they are doing is cutting this camera the opportunity to discuss. Do you know why they are so nervous? Because they cannot justify their non -12.5 million Spaniards,” said PSOE Deputy Alberto Mayoral. In PNV, they have recognized that they do not share the entire law, they have considered that the reduction of the day “is viable” if accompanied by measures and resources, which could have been incorporated into the process of amendments. EH Bildu and BNG have condemned the veto of the right, and ERC has been very critical of the position of Junts, which he has accused of defending the interests of “the great Spanish employer.”
Hard attacks by Yolanda Díaz to Junts
The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has loaded on Wednesday against Junts for her safe veto, something common, since she usually focuses her criticisms on the PP. “You believe that you are representing Catalan independence. It is not true. Today you represent the interests of the Spanish employer in the most reactionary sectors,” he said.
In a parliamentary speech directed mostly to the deputy of Junts Miriam Nogueras, the second vice president has recriminated to the formation that has based her veto on data that “are not at all truthful” about the difficulties of this measure for Catalan SMEs. Yolanda Díaz has asked to talk about the margins and business benefits, “of which they never speak”, and that in the case of SMEs have added “20,000 million euros since 2019” and the self -employed “6,754 million euros.”
“It is that you and me here in this debate we represent something that moves the story: it is called class struggle. And you represent the capital and I and the Government of Spain represents the Catalan and also Spanish people. You put on the side of those who today in Spain and in Catalonia are being fined,” Yolanda Díaz Esperonda Diaz's spokesperson for Junts in Congress.
The second vice president has affirmed that Juns has had a “broad” document of measures and proposals to negotiate this measure, which have rejected those of Puigdemont. “They have thrown it in the trash,” said Díaz, who stressed that the bill affects the distribution of wealth and productivity, something that “the three rights” actually rejects, as it has referred to PP, Junts and Vox. However, the Minister of Labor has in the end a hand to negotiate in the future with Junts, which she has asked to “rectify.”
As he has been doing in recent months, Yolanda Díaz has also been very hard with the PP, which he has criticized for repeating “the myths of the political and economic right” of destruction of employment now as he did in the past with the minimum wage or labor reform. “And time has proved us right,” said the second vice president, who has denied the real concern of the PP about this law and its effects on SMEs, since the party is the only political formation that has refused to negotiate its text with the Ministry of Labor. “I ask you to be rigorous or say they are against workers,” Diaz replied.
Since the PP has criticized the law due to lack of consensus in social dialogue, Díaz has reminded the PP that they tried to knock down the labor reform agreed with the employer and the unions, and approved their 2012 reform without any social support. “What social dialogue they talk to us? Enough of absolutely false arguments,” said the leader of adding in the government.
Díaz claims to follow the fight: “Let's win”
This parliamentary defeat thus involves knocking down the reduction of the working day at 37 and a half hours, which the Government raised by the end of this year, as well as other measures that included the norm, such as the reinforcement of the time registration, the increase in sanctions against abuse and fraud, and some concretion for the right to digital disconnection. “This vote does not go free. People will remind you,” said Yolanda Díaz to PP, Junts and Vox.
“What they see today is a preliminary essay of what could be a government of Mr. Feijóo and Mr. Abascal,” said Díaz, who has called for “hope” and the “struggle” of the progressive parties and the progressive population to take this measure forward. The vice president has already affirmed that she will present a bill with the reduction of the day and that she will approve the reinforcement of the time registration by Royal Decree, which does not require passing through the Parliament.
The Second Vice President has argued that “this debate (the reduction of working time) will win because the strength of history will be imposed.” “They want us depressed and tell them that they will find us fighting,” said the Minister of Labor. “This rule is a step forward to win the country. And we will win it,” he has trusted.
