The partial unemployment measures, which were to end Thursday, September 30 in Spain, were finally extended until October 31 as they currently exist, and until February 28, on condition that the employees concerned are trained. They are nearly 250,000 in the country.
The measure – the result of an agreement between the employers, the unions and the government – was approved in extremis in the Council of Ministers, Tuesday, September 28, at the same time as a 1.7% increase in the minimum wage, bringing it , from September, to 965 euros per month over fourteen months. “This is one more step towards a fair recovery”, commented the Minister of Labor and Second Vice-President of the Executive, Communist Yolanda Diaz.
For this rising figure and free electron of the left government, it is a new victory to hang on his record. Since taking office in January 2020, this 50-year-old minister has successfully completed eleven negotiations including both employers and unions, she likes to remind regularly, while insisting on the importance of deepening the ” social dialogue ” in a climate of strong political tension.
Charismatic
Among these major agreements are the increase in the minimum wage (SMI) of 5.5% in 2020, announced just two weeks after his arrival at the head of the ministry; the various partial unemployment mechanisms approved following the Covid-19 pandemic; but also the teleworking law, which obliges companies to bear the costs incurred by it and imposes a right to disconnect; or the “Riders” law, which forces digital platforms to pay delivery men and to offer more transparency on the functioning of algorithms and their impact on working conditions. The union leaders are full of praise for him. The employers recognize their ability to orchestrate negotiations and their desire to find consensus.
The Spanish Confederation of Entrepreneurial Organizations (CEOE) only left the discussion table on the occasion of the last increase in the minimum wage, considering that the path mapped out, with further larger SMI increases planned for the next two years , risked endangering small businesses. “A strong democracy is incompatible with low wages, insisted Mme Diaz. A modern country, the country we aspire to, is one where people live with dignity through decent jobs. “
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