MADRID, 2 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy, Joaquín Pérez Rey, reminded the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, this Friday that until the general elections are held on July 23, the Government is functioning normally, so it will continue summoning businessmen and unions to the social dialogue tables that it deems appropriate.
At a press conference to present the unemployment data for May, Pérez Rey responded in this way when asked about some statements by Garamendi in which he assured that “it would not make much sense” that, having called general elections for July 23, some Ministry summon unions and businessmen to sit at a social dialogue table and reach agreements that could be “interrupted” or be used for electoral purposes.
“The Government, until the elections are held, is with its powers intact, fully operational, it is not in office and I would tell the employers and Mr. Garamendi to seriously value that statement and to continue working along the same lines as what we were doing to provide our country with legal instruments that are very important for young people, for companies and for workers”, Pérez Rey pointed out.
In this sense, the Secretary of State for Employment stressed that there were elements in the framework of the social dialogue that were close to being agreed upon, such as the Scholarship Statute, and that when commitments have to be met, it is not possible to “abandon duties “.
Thus, Pérez Rey has replied to Garamendi that social dialogue is a “very useful” instrument, that it should not end “abruptly”, and that it is a “shame” that employers “exclude themselves” from social dialogue by generating “a parenthesis in their obligations to respond to the challenges and labor needs of companies and workers”.
“Companies and workers are not aware of electoral periods, they want their problems resolved as soon as possible”, stressed the Secretary of State, who has insisted that the Government will continue to convene trade union and business organizations to advance in all those subjects that are “essential”, the Scholarship Statute among them.
