Under a blazing sun that made it necessary to look for the scant shade provided by the buildings on Madrid’s Gran Vía, the UGT and CCOO unions have tried to gain muscle in the first First of May “with something to celebrate for the workers”, in reference to the labor reform approved a few months ago. The competition was tough: good weather, motorcycles, Mother’s Day and even hangovers from the celebration on the eve of Real Madrid’s 35th League.
The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diaz, has been the first to intervene and has done so with a maxim: “Defending the rights of workers we are stronger”. After claiming “solidarity with the workers of Ukraine, because they cannot go out to demonstrate”, he affirmed that today May Day can be “celebrated” because “it is the first time that we can say that we have improved the lives of the workers & rdquor; with the rise in the minimum interprofessional wage and fighting against job insecurity.
“We are not satisfied, we will continue walking”, assured Díaz after announcing the creation of a commission of experts to make a Workers’ Statute of the 21st century. “The old trade unionists used to say that work had been left at the gates of the 20th century and now it is opening up to the 21st. Let us tell the young people that their contract will not be rubbish and that they will be able to return to our country with dignity”, claimed the Labor Minister.
The General Secretaries of the UGT, Pepe Alvarezand CCOO, unai deafhave welcomed the progress made in labor rights in recent months, but they have warned that “much remains to be done”, such as in causes and compensation for dismissal, and have urged wage increases.
In statements to the media before the start of the Madrid demonstration, Álvarez pointed out that the progress made in recent times, such as the rider’s law waves SMI increaseshave changed “the face of the country” but there is still “a lot to be achieved”.
In this sense, Álvarez has pointed to the Reasons and compensation for dismissals and health at work where, he recalled, two people lose their lives in Spain every day while mental health problems also increase. This May Day, he concluded, is the time to “take a breath and continue the fight.”
For his part, Sordo assured that we are facing a May Day that will be “a inflection point in the policy of vindication of what we have done and for the improvement of wages that through the collective agreements it has to happen in the second part of the year”. “We are celebrating May Day at a time of great uncertainty about how the economic and employment variables are going to evolve in the near future”, Sordo assured.
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In this sense, he explained that although the pandemic crisis has been left behind, “we have entered a new risk of crisis and slowdown as a result of a criminal war and a disproportionate increase in prices”.
The CCOO leader has made it clear that “we are not going to allow a blocking of collective bargaining that reduces purchasing power, we are not going to compromise with the attitude of boycotting business organisations”, demanding that they sign a new salary agreement that guarantees purchasing power. Likewise, he has opted for “unmasking those who send messages to the workers and then vote against raising the SMI.”