MADRID, Feb. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) – The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has conveyed her “absolute respect” for the rights of farmers and ranchers who these days are organizing tractor rallies in Spain due to the situation of the primary sector, but has warned that in this crisis the climate crisis cannot be “questioned.”
Farmers are protesting these days against the high production costs in the primary sector, unfair competition from third countries and also against the demands on production to adapt to the fight against climate change.
In the opinion of the leader of Sumar, agriculture is experiencing a “very deep” and “serious” problem that has led to “real” discomfort among workers in the sector. As an example of this situation, the vice president explained that in communities such as Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia, farmers sell milk below its cost, something that occurs in a similar way throughout Spain with other products.
“It is a very important economic crisis of winners and losers, we must stand on the side of working people with rights, but without questioning the climate emergency,” Díaz emphasized in the halls of Congress after appearing at the control session.
The vice president has stressed in this sense that the problems of livestock farming in Spain and Europe “are not a conflict with the climate crisis”, but are of an economic nature and with production models. “They have to be alleviated in another way, not by questioning the climate emergency, which is evident,” Díaz added.
Furthermore, Yolanda Díaz recalled that this climate crisis is “unique” in Spain, as it is a country “especially vulnerable” to climate change.
DÍAZ BLAMES THE UNREST IN THE COUNTRYSIDE ON THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY
Later, during a meeting of the head of Labor with the union organizations of Castilla y León, Díaz pointed out that this unrest in the Spanish countryside is due to the “absolutely unequal” distribution between the agricultural sector, the industrial part of the sector, the distribution and the prices.
“I believe that there is unrest, that it has deep causes and roots, and that they have to be corrected,” Díaz stressed during a meeting with the general secretaries of CCOO and UGT of Castilla y León, among other union officials, to address the “collapse ” of the Regional Labor Relations Service of Castilla y León (Serla).
Along these lines, he has reiterated that the solution to the inequality that occurs in agricultural and livestock production in Spain does not involve “lightening regulations” that impact people’s lives. In turn, he has asked to compensate for the “dysfunction” that is occurring in Spanish livestock and agriculture.
