The main slogan of the PSOE and Add Government Pact, the reduction of the ordinary day to 37 and a half hours, has already received the endorsement of the Council of Ministers, after weeks of conflict between work and economy. Once this procedure has been overcome, the following goal is a devilish parliamentary debate. According to Tuesday, the number two of the Ministry of Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, “at the end of this month or principles I hope you can already be in the hands of its lordships.” Waiting for what measures the Government takes to convince the political groups, with all eyes on together and the PP, the Ministry’s agenda goes beyond the contraction of the working time: it pursues the approval of the statute of the scholarships, it will open The negotiation to reform dismissal and address the transposition of the European Directive on minimum wages.
Pérez Rey highlights the statute of the fellow as the “most priority” legislative process. This agreement of the Ministry of Labor and the unions (rejected by employers and rectors), presented in society, still does not apply for the opposition of the socialist part of the government. Moncloa and Economics said that he lacked “technical work” and that the agreed text was “green.” The rule has already initiated its parliamentary procedure, although there is still no consensus between PSOE and add.
“We have already taken steps, such as the audience and public consultation. Once the preliminary draft of the reduction of day is clear, we will continue with the statute, which is a pending commitment of the previous legislature but renewed in the coalition agreement. A commitment that the President of the Government has also taken over, ”said Pérez Rey at the press conference in which he analyzed the affiliation and registered unemployment data. He added that the works are “advanced” and that “quickly and as soon as we will talk about the statute.”
Changes in dismissal
Faced with direct questions in this regard, the Secretary of State for Labor also talked about the reform of dismissal, “a commitment of the coalition agreement.” According to PSOE and add, the promise of the parties is to protect better from substantial modifications of working conditions; review the causes of the cessation; and “establish guarantees for working people in the face of dismissal, complying with the European Social Charter.”
That last point, which interprets compensation for inadmissible dismissal, is the one that most resistance in the employer and within the government itself (). “There have been two collective claims about this, one that we know and another to know,” said Pérez Rey. It refers to the claims of the unions before the Council of Europe because they consider that the Spanish dismissal regulations do not comply with the European Social Charter. Strasbourg already and has even undertakes a reform, and has also resolved on a similar CC Oo claim, but that decision has not yet transcended. This European agency considers that Spain does not comply with the European Social Charter, since the text recognizes “the right of dismissed workers without valid reason to adequate compensation or other appropriate reparation.” From the Spanish appraisal system, UGT interpreted and the Council of Europe agreed, it is not always adequate or repairing. Being assessed in days, compensation for inadmissible cessations can be scarce if the employment relationship has been short.
“From there we have to reflect on how a dismissal regime such as ours works, which is basically compensatory. It is little deterrent and not very reparatory of the real damage suffered by the worker unfairly dismissed, ”said Pérez Rey, who anticipated:“ We must do it not only with sufficient calm to reach a good legislative solution, but also to keep in mind that we have than to give effective to the European Social Charter. Ministry’s commitment is absolute. ” In that line, the Secretary of State added: “We have to start working, surely with the help of experts, in knowing what are the concrete consequences of the European Committee of Social Rights.”
He did not mention the recent decision of the Supreme Court, in which he closes the door for damages that had been granting different courts against inadmissible dismissals. The unions underline that the himself recognizes that in that decision the ratification of the European Social Charter has not been taken into account “by the date on which the dismissal examined has occurred”, so they consider that the judicial debate remains open.
Finally, Pérez Rey has underlined the commitment of his ministry to open a social dialogue table to address the transposition of the European Minimum Salary Directive. “At the end of March or in April we will try to start.”
Flexible retirement
The Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, of the Coalition Government (with the support of the PP), also looks at new structural changes. “At the meeting last week with unions and employer also talked about pensions,” he said on Tuesday, in reference to the meeting on temporary disability. “These are aspects to which we could not pay attention to the 2024 process, flexible retirement.” This is to address the case of retired people who want to return to work, voluntary reinstatement to the labor market.
“We need to give a normative response to those who have retired and a while later wants to work again, reactivate again, and now has a clearly obsolete regulation. It is an issue to dedicate to us, ”Suárez explained. The last reform, newly approved, focuses on offering nconentives to those people who choose to take their retirement. This new step in the horizon would consist of re -enacting already retired people compatible with salary and pension. “I get poetic, but social security is a living being. You have to continue doing things, ”Suárez concluded.
