UGT and CCOO notify CEOE with a "general mobilization" if there is no agreement to raise wages

Four ministers attend the demonstration in Madrid: Yolanda Díaz, María Jesús Montero, Alberto Garzón and Irene Montero

1 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The CCOO and the UGT have celebrated this May 1, marked by the electoral context, with the regional elections on May 28, and have warned the CEOE that they will go to a “general mobilization in the form of a strike” if there is no pact to raise wages within the framework of the V Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC).

The general secretary of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, and the general secretary of the CCOO, Unai Sordo, have insisted on the closure of the demonstration with this year’s motto, ‘Raise wages, lower prices, distribute benefits’, and the need for the employer does it as soon as possible.

Four ministers attended the demonstration in Madrid: the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz; the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero; the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, and the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero.

The Madrid demonstration has taken place between Gran Vía and Plaza de España, and has had some 60,000 attendees, according to the organization, while the Government Delegation estimates some 10,000 people.

The CCOO leader has stressed that “no one disputes” the importance of “distributing wealth” and has made a “sincere summons” to the CEOE to advance at the AENC table.

“We called on CEOE to sit at a table, not to have gatherings, but to negotiate. If they do not agree to negotiate, the battle will move to collective agreements, trench by trench,” Sordo warned.

The CCOO general secretary has raised the possibility of going to a “general mobilization process that takes the form of a strike” in sectors with blocked collective agreements.

“EITHER AN AGREEMENT OR WE FILL THE STREETS”

From UGT, Álvarez has reminded businessmen that conflicts “we know how they start, but not how they end”, for which he has urged them to reach an “umbrella agreement”, which allows agreements to be negotiated in an “orderly manner” to avoid reach mobilizations.

“Either we have an agreement or they are going to be alone at the table because we are going to fill the streets of our country,” warned the UGT leader.

Álvarez stressed that the workers “are not to blame” for the situation of the companies, which must “guarantee the purchasing power of wages.”

“UNIONS ARE NOT NEUTRAL”

CCOO and UGT have also recalled in their speeches the proximity of the regional and local elections on May 28, and the situation of “changes of such importance” in the economy, employment and public services, as Sordo has said.

The CCOO general secretary has admitted that the unions “are not neutral” in a year like this, “when so much is at stake in Spain.”

Sordo has specified that it is of little use to raise wages if citizens have to allocate that amount to pay for health, education or dependency care, and has pointed out to “those who are in front”, who are “a risk to the rights of the most”.

Álvarez added that in the next elections the labor reform and the pension reform may be at stake, since some parties “are not happy” and do not like that workers are “free when it comes to work.”

“We want the political groups, the administrations, to be sure that the best way we have to consolidate our rights is through social agreement. Thanks to social agreement, we have achieved such important advances as the labor and pension reform,” he commented. in his speech.

Álvarez has also supported the Housing Law in his intervention and has asked the autonomous communities and town halls to “put all the means to be able to build public rental housing for workers.”

Both Sordo and Álvarez have taken stock of this legislature, “without complacency”, but recognizing the achievements of these years, such as the labor reform, the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) or the pension reform.

The unions have called demonstrations for May 1 in more than 70 cities in Spain.