MADRID, 2 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, announced this Thursday that this summer representatives of her portfolio will maintain a first contact with the United States to deploy common policies “in terms of minimum wages, defense of unions and public policies” aimed at a “new conception of employment in the world”.
Díaz has spoken this Wednesday in the Labor, Inclusion, Social Security and Migration Committee of Congress, where he has also announced that Spain will begin working on the agenda for the presidency of the European Union, in the second half of 2023, which will be articulated around public policies linked to employment, social dialogue, digital platforms and the social economy.
On the international agenda, the Minister of Labor has also highlighted the “important role” of Spain in the Council for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers (Epsco, for its acronym in English), with its promotion of the European social alert mechanism , the minimum wage directive, pay transparency or digital platform workers.
Regarding the Rider law in Spain, Díaz has advanced that next week the conclusions of the team of experts in the field of algorithms and labor relations will be presented, to find out what the approach and deployment of that algorithm should be.
The other algorithm in which Labor is advancing is the one that will measure the fraudulent use of overtime. Díaz has reminded the Congress Commission that in Spain 6.6 million overtime hours are worked per week, which add up to 27 million overtime hours per month.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. The algorithm is going to be applied in the logic of technology to the defense service of the workers. With a simple click, we will be able to control the fraud that we have”, the minister pointed out.
Díaz has specified that overtime hours present “gender bias”, since it is the men who work more hours outside of their working hours, but it is the women who do not see that effort compensated when they do it.
The future law on the use of time that will be made in this regard will be considered “in the sense of the Nordic countries”, since the current article 37 of the Workers’ Statute, relating to breaks, parties and permits, is more detrimental to women, as the minister has stated. Therefore, the regulations will focus on “not worsening the career of women” and avoid “reproducing gender roles.”
The Minister of Labor has exposed before the deputies of the Commission her intention to promote the legislative development of article 129 of the Constitution, to guarantee the participation of workers in the means of production
“There are experiences in the Basque Country, also in Spanish public companies, particularly Navantia, which already have the participation of workers within the Board of Directors. There is no one who loves their company more than the workers”, has Diaz commented.
Díaz has also marked the review of the “dear old Labor Statute” as a “great pending task”. In addition, in the new approach to the world of work, the minister has highlighted the role of the self-employed, due to their “weight in economic and social terms”, and has recalled that she is working on the first national strategy for self-employment.
