Sánchez demands that the employer sit down with the unions to distribute the benefits

Claim by Pedro Sánchez to the employer. One day after the agreement with Brussels and United We Can to reform pensions was announced, the President of the Government has demanded that the employers sit down with the unions to agree on a collective bargaining that distributes the benefits of large companies with “justice” ” since in the last decade workers have lost purchasing power.

“That is why it is so important to raise the minimum wage or it is relevant to revalue pensions… and that is why we also demand that the employers sit down with the unions and that those benefits that large companies have are not taken only by those at the top , but also the workers of those big companies”, Sánchez pointed out during the closing ceremony of the PSOE Municipal Convention in Andalusia, where he officially presented the party’s motto “Defend what you think”. He has attended the Convention after visiting the INTA facilities in El Arenosillo, in Mazagón (Huelva) and remembering from there the victims of the 11-M attacks.

A motto that defends -he has said- “what the majority thinks”, which is, for example, being aware that “a pension system is guaranteed with decent salaries that will be the decent pensions of tomorrow”.

“They said for months that we were not going to be able to reform pensions and those who devalued and froze them when they governed said it. When it is just the opposite”, Sánchez said in an act before some 850 people in which the general secretary of the PSOE in Andalusia, Juan Espadas, participated; the mayor of Huelva, Gabriel Cruz, and the president of the Huelva Provincial Council, María Eugenia Limón.

Also supported by the Ministers of Finance and Science and Innovation, María Jesús Montero and Diana Morant, respectively, Sánchez has made it clear that “today, tomorrow and always we will defend the revaluation of pensions as the best way to guarantee a dignified retirement”.

The President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE has defended that “what you think is important” and “no matter the noise, the tension, the disqualification or the insults” of those who “have nothing else to offer the citizens and they cannot show it because they do not connect with the demands of the social majority”.

“Progressive Politics”

He has warned that the “neoliberal and cutbacks” policies of the government of Mariano Rajoy will need a decade of “progressive policies” to be reversed, and has stressed that the working middle class, although it has gained 10% in real wages, has lost purchasing power with a 17% increase in prices in recent years. “And that is why (the employer) has to sit down so that in collective bargaining the benefits are distributed fairly,” he stressed.

In this regard, Sánchez has indicated that “no matter the noise, the tension or the insults and disqualifications of those who intend to plunge politics into that with their attitude” and has insisted that the PSOE will continue to defend the importance of having a State of the “Robust” well-being.

“While I am President of the Government, I will not forget that disastrous decade of the financial crisis and the neoliberal response. I remember the students demonstrating against the cuts, the educational law that segregated and strengthened private education. I also remember many health professionals who wanted to defend a public, free and quality National Health System (SNS). I also remember that silent exodus of scientists who left Spain during all those years and who are now returning because then they did not have what they have today, which is a committed government”, he explained.

“The next 28M the choice is very simple: either bet on governments that defend what the majority thinks or bet on those that defend the privileges of a minority”, he stressed.

During his speech, Sánchez has revealed that the Government has invested 1,000 million euros in the SNS for Primary Care (AP) and has more than 90,000 new professionals since his mandate began in 2019 and has noticed that last week the “largest game of scholarships in history” was announced with 2,500 million euros.

“It is evident that we have crises and we have to respond to these crises in a different way as the Popular Party did with the financial crisis. But we must not forget what our goal is as a party. We want for our society a middle and working class that has what they have lost during these more than ten years since the financial crisis ”, he affirmed.

In this sense, he has detailed that the middle class has seen its real salary increase by 10 percent in the last 10-15 years, while prices “have increased by almost 17 percent”, for which workers have lost purchasing power.

“That is why it is so important to raise the minimum interprofessional salary as we have raised it. That is why it is relevant to revalue pensions, and that is why we also demand that the employers sit down with the unions and that those benefits that large companies have not only go to those at the top but also to the workers”, he has valued.

An intense week for the Executive

Sánchez’s words come after an intense week for the coalition government. After the Congress took the first step on Tuesday to reform the law of ‘only yes is yes’, promoted by the PSOE with the support of PP, PNV, Ciudadanos and PDeCAT and the rejection of its partners, Unidas Podemos, in addition to ERC and EH Bildu; This Friday morning the pension reform and the reactivation of negotiations on the housing law were announced.

Not even 48 hours had passed since the biggest public confrontation so far in the legislature between the members of the Executive. A real fire in the eyes of everyone in Congress with accusations crossed by the reform of the Law on Sexual Freedom that the President of the Government hastened to quell. After the parliamentary session on Tuesday, in which the melee between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos reached levels of tension that were reminiscent of the times of rupture prior to the coalition agreement, Pedro Sánchez gave express instructions among the socialist ranks to cast the brake: “Issue settled, let’s look forward,” the president requested, reports José Enrique Monrosi.

Between Thursday and the early hours of Friday there was an acceleration in the pension reform, which is based on a great reinforcement of the system’s income, mainly through contributions to the highest salaries, now highly exempt in Spain . In addition, an optional calculation period and improvements in minimum pensions and other measures favorable to women are finally proposed, which rules out the cuts and expands social protection, according to the details known by elDiario.es.