Belén López: Companies record historic profits at the expense of making workers precarious

BarcelonaBelén López (Masies de Voltregà, 1976) has been the general secretary of CCOO of Catalonia for a year and a half. The union leader assures ARA that she expects the strike to be a success, as the public feels “challenged”. López asserts that, on the 11th, CCOO will play a key role in stopping the main Catalan workplaces: "We will steer the closure of companies and, as is to be expected, we will participate in all activities that take place with the prominence that comes with being the leading union in Catalonia".

Fourteen years have passed since the last major general strike. Why now?

— On one hand, we find ourselves in an unsustainable situation where many working families cannot make ends meet due to inflationary pressure. The housing situation highlights this. Furthermore, it is increasingly difficult to reach agreements: there is an absolute non-appearance by the employers' association when it comes to negotiating the Sixth Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC). And, in the Congress of Deputies, we see how the right-wing majority formed by the PP, Vox, and Junts causes any measure to fail. We have seen this with the reduction of the working day or with the housing decrees. Faced with this situation, we are forced to call a general strike. Measures must be launched to ensure that people can make ends meet. And this means decent wages, price caps, and, above all, intervening in the housing market.

The general strike, however, arrives at the doors of an election. If the right wing wins, perhaps they will have wasted a bullet?

— Going on strike does not make it impossible for there to be more and for the mobilization not to continue. Depending on who wins the elections, we will find ourselves in a scenario of significant rights cuts: they clearly state what they want to do with pensions, with sick leave, with union delegates.

So, do you not rule out mobilizing again in the coming months?

— It will be based on the policies they implement, of course. We know what our roadmap is and which public policies we believe guarantee people's rights. In the event that policies are undertaken that are harmful to working people, we will mobilize regardless of who is in power. Historically, we have done so with governments of all stripes. We are independent of politics, but not indifferent to policies.

Earlier I was talking about an "absolute non-appearance" of the employers' associations.

— We are condemned to reach an understanding with the employers' associations, and we are reaching agreements with some collective bargaining agreements. Lately, the employers' association has placed itself in a completely immovable position, waiting for their own to arrive and legislate in their favor. They are already presenting their program and asking right-wing parties to respond to their demands. We have seen this with medical leave, pension reform, or when they ask to eliminate workers' representatives in companies of fewer than 250 people. These requests are absolutely detrimental to the rights of working people.

Recently, there have been calls to allow the dismissal of employees on sick leave.

— Their proposals involve continuing to increase profits at the expense of precarious working conditions. I believe the question must be one of national interest: what productive model do we want? It seems the employers' association is betting on a productive model where the factor of competitiveness is precariousness. The other path is competitiveness through talent, creativity, or renewable energy. In the speeches that seek to make workers' conditions precarious, I detect a very short-term outlook; they are not rowing towards having a high value-added economy.

This strike, however, who is it really against? The government, the opposition, the employers' association?

— It is an offensive strike, to conquer rights. It is a work stoppage to point out that we live in a system that is absolutely extractivist with the income of the working class, and that is turning basic goods such as housing into an asset to speculate with. There are two messages to send. One to the employers' associations so that they sit down to negotiate all the blocked agreements; it is necessary to demand decent wages. Currently, companies are recording historic profits at the expense of making workers precarious with low wages, of having unpaid overtime, and of putting the health of workers at risk. All this must stop going into their income statements. Also, a clear message to the political parties: it is necessary to intervene in the housing market.

From a labor perspective, however, many of the measures that the Spanish government has pushed forward over the last few years have been applauded, such as the continuous update of the SMI.

— But there is room for improvement. Some important reforms have been left in a drawer and we demand that they be applied, such as the reduction of working hours or the law on occupational risk prevention. From November 29th, whoever the government may be, we will continue to put all these demands on the table and we will continue fighting.