We live in a moment of great complexity, which makes it very difficult to understand current affairs and much more, find out where the future goes. And not only in macro terms, with the outcome of the war in Ukraine or the seriousness of the impact of climate change, or if the new cold war between China and the US will change the rules of global capitalism, or if we will have an energy supply to run the companies and give light to our homes… It is already complex enough to understand what is closest. Will I have a job or will a robot take it from me? Will I be able to pay a mortgage or rent a house or not? If I can buy a car, does it have to be electric or not? And if I can’t, how do I get to work? Will my children have a place in a public school? How many days will it take to have an appointment with the doctor? If I am gay or lesbian, will they flag me down the street? If I want to have an abortion, do I have to go to another city? Will I be able to write songs, books, theater, cinema without fear?
Today society faces a scenario in which the art of building crosses is rampant political marketing and by the politics of marketing. It delves into the contradictions, the message is radicalized and confusion is played, if not lies. It is an extended exercise that conditions the collective imagination, that polarizes interests, and segments and disaggregates the claims. Support niches are created, subject to corporate demands, which fragment the claims, and they end up functioning as fan clubs for parties and entities.
class unionism has a capital challenge when interpreting this reality and simply translating the need to gather demands, fight against segmentation and social segregation, and to give certainties to the working class. We know that work can guarantee decent living conditions for the majority, with sufficient wages, but also with social contributions and taxes that pay for pensions and social benefits and guarantee education, quality public health and a comprehensive system of care for dependency.
That is why we have participated through the social dialogue of the most ambitious legislative agenda in articulation of rights in the last legislature, but now a new social contract is needed that guarantees a dignified life for everyone, also for those people who are today at risk of poverty, one in four in Catalonia.
Related news
Labor and pension reform help to configure the pillars of this portfolio of rights, but more is needed: improve social benefits and promote tax reform stop saving taxes on companies with more profits and speculator rentiers, and Provide resources for policies that guarantee the rights of citizenship. Also give viable access to housing, deploying the new law everywhere, and multiplying the investment in public housing of social offer, so that a person does not dedicate more than 30% of their income to housing.
For a vast majority, a roof over your head and a full fridge are the basic necessities. The system should respond to them with a new social contract that allows them to work with dignity, live freely and look to the future with enthusiasm and hope, knowing that people are not alone, that we are accompanied and, above all, organized. This is what CCOO demand from the parties that compete on 23J, and above all, from whoever is elected at the polls. Because unionism will continue to defend a model of society where the working class has equal opportunities, with rights and with bread, roses and books.