Yolanda Díaz and ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, in Congress on October 20. Álvaro García
Nine months of dialogue cost the Government the agreement with unions and employers for the labor reform and now it faces another 30 days of lengthy political negotiations so that the Congress of Deputies does not ruin the carefully woven pact. The two Cabinet formations agree to confine the talks for the moment to the usual partners, the left and the nationalists, unhappy with the approved text. The Ministry of Labor has already maintained the first discreet contacts with ERC, PNV and EH Bildu to listen to their demands. The prevalence of regional agreements over state agreements is one of the keys to untangling the skein.
The official discourse of the Government, with greater emphasis on the socialist part, is that Congress must respect what has been agreed by the social agents. The Executive presses the left parties with the argument that if they overturn the reform, they will be responsible for maintaining the labor framework of the PP. The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, and the Socialist members of the Government coincide in that message. "Whoever votes against should explain it well to their voters," insisted on Tuesday the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, in an anticipation of what will be a constant in the Executive's speech to its partners in the coming weeks.
Bolaños, the usual negotiator of the socialists, reaffirmed in an interview in RNE that the Executive's purpose is not to touch anything that was agreed at the table of social agents, the result of a delicate balance. "We do not want this rule to undergo any modification because it is an agreement between employers and unions, not a government bill," said the minister. Although that is the official discourse, privately other members of the Executive admit that it will be very difficult not to offer any concessions to their partners. Even the Minister of Finance, the also socialist María Jesús Montero, had left the door open on Monday to process the decree as a bill, which would mean exposing it to the group's amendments. In the first contacts to probe positions,The Ministry of Labor has already verified, according to sources from that department, that Basque and Catalan nationalists are not willing to give a blank check.
The Government must compose a bobbin lace. Any tweak in the reform to satisfy its partners may endanger the endorsement of the employer's association, whose president, Antonio Garamendi, is under pressure from important employers' federations - the latter, those of the hotel and catering trade - dissatisfied with the agreed measures to reduce temporary employment. And if Basque and Catalan nationalists fail to win any concessions, the Executive risks arriving without support in the first week of February, when the decree, at the limit of the legal term, must be validated by Parliament. Processing it as a bill, as requested by the usual partners, would mean leaving it in force at the expense of surprises that may arise later, in the amendment process.
One issue emerges as crucial in the negotiations: the inclusion in the text of the possibility of availing itself of an autonomous agreement over the state one when the latter has better conditions for the worker.
That is the great demand of the PNV and one of the conditions of EH Bildu, to which ERC joined on Tuesday, although the measure would have less impact in Catalonia than in the Basque Country, where nationalist unionism is the majority.
The pressure of the partners leads the Executive to look for formulas that could satisfy this claim without at the same time getting too upset with the employer.
ERC's lawsuits
The main requirement of ERC is of a different nature.
The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, explained it days ago and this Tuesday the
minister endorsed it
Roger Torrent. Esquerra requests that the mandatory prior administrative authorization for the application of an ERE, suppressed in the reform of the PP in 2012. Thus, the Generalitat would regain a competence that it had transferred. This issue does not appear in the labor reform and could be negotiated in a separate regulation. In fact, the Ministry of Labor has already promised to do so in a document, published in the BOE on December 3, the Strategic Plan of the Labor Inspection and Social Security. It talks about promoting a “normative modification” to “expand the content of the Labor Inspection report” prior to the collective dismissal procedures. The matter, however, does not arouse unanimity within the Government. In the case of ERC,Executive sources also fear that the negotiations on the labor reform will be mixed with Aragonès' demand to meet before the end of January the dialogue table created with the Generalitat to address the independence demands.
With all these ropes to be tied up, the Government will extend the legal deadline to validate the reform in Congress, which expires on February 7. Regardless of the previous polls that Work has already begun, formal negotiations with potential allies will not begin until next week. The two formations of the Executive emphasize that there will be unity of action in the talks. They will be commanded by Yolanda Díaz, as head of the ministry that promotes the project, and on the socialist side, Bolaños will be deeply involved in the negotiations with the groups.
There are no differences in the Government on who should be the interlocutor: the block of 188 deputies that approved the latest Budgets. One of the opposition formations, Ciudadanos, has also shown itself willing to negotiate possible support for the reform, welcomed with good words by the leaders of Inés Arrimadas's party. The Executive is open to dialogue with the liberal group, especially if negotiations get stuck with the usual allies, although that possibility, admit socialist sources, would most likely raise internal tensions with the most leftist sectors of United We Can, especially with the party leadership led by Ione Belarra. Podemos has so far maintained a very discreet role and has closed ranks with Díaz.His position is that nothing should be negotiated beyond the usual majority that supports the Executive. Pablo Iglesias, in a speech last Monday on radio station RAC1, showed his support for the vice president: “The big game now is Yolanda, they are going for her. And the right is going to try to break the majority of the investiture ". Iglesias defended that the agreed reform contains "very important advances for the working class," although he pointed out that now "the second part of the party is missing: negotiations with ERC, EH Bildu and PNV."Iglesias defended that the agreed reform contains "very important advances for the working class", although he pointed out that now "the second part of the party is missing: negotiations with ERC, EH Bildu and PNV."Iglesias defended that the agreed reform contains "very important advances for the working class", although he pointed out that now "the second part of the party is missing: negotiations with ERC, EH Bildu and PNV."
With the rest of the usual allies - from PDeCAT to Más País - the Government expects fewer difficulties.
But without PNV and ERC, and with the PP installed in the no, the accounts do not come out.
Unless, instead of voting against, the nationalists chose to abstain so as not to appear responsible for frustrating an agreement reached by the two largest unions and thus perpetuating the labor framework imposed by the PP.
