One week after the Government It will close an agreement to improve teachers' salary conditions with CCOO and UGT but without USTEC —the majority union—This Monday, teachers are once again called to mobilize in protests that will last all week. The strike, which will be held each day in a different part of the country and will end on Friday with a demonstration in Barcelona, ​​comes at a time of some tension within the education sector—especially on social media—and with a clear disagreement between unions following the breakdown of the unified movement.

The severe windstorm that has been battering Catalonia this Thursday has led to the suspension of educational and university activities, as well as a recommendation from the Catalan government to take extreme precautions, avoid non-essential travel, and opt for teleworking. This scenario, in which an authority issues recommendations, limitations, or prohibitions on mobility, creates rights and obligations for workers—such as having paid leave or working remotely when possible—and also for companies—paying for this leave or facilitating teleworking. All of this is covered in Article 37.3.g) of the Workers' Statute, which states that employees "may be absent" from work for up to four days "with the right to remuneration" if they are unable to attend their workplace due to the authorities' directives regarding the weather. However, this right generates an economic cost that raises the following question: who should bear it?

Democratizing corporate governance—decision-making—is the banner that Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, raised almost a year ago with the creation of a group of experts to put in writing how the process could be improved. representation and participation of workers in the governing bodies of companiesStarting with the boards of directors. The mandate was to outline the main principles of a reform that guarantees employee access to these spaces and even to company ownership.

The Ministry of Labor and the UGT and CCOO unions, but not the employers' associations, have agreed this Thursday to raise the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI). 1,221 euros gross in 14 paymentsThis represents a 3.1% increase compared to 2025. It's a rise of 37 euros per month, as announced by the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey. The Council of Ministers will soon approve the salary increase, which will be retroactive to January 1st of this year. The employers' associations CEOE and Cepyme have distanced themselves from the agreement and rejected the increase, as anticipated in the statement released Thursday morning, in which they labeled the tax deduction in corporate income tax for the companies most affected by the pay increase as "deceptive" and "interventionist." According to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and the unions agree that this salary level will remain exempt from personal income tax.

The Ministry of Labor has offered social partners compensation for companies most affected by the minimum wage increase, but this is conditional on an increase in the lowest wages and maintaining current staffing levels. The ministry, headed by Yolanda Díaz, proposes a 3.1% increase in the minimum wage in 2021, to €1,221 per month (paid in fourteen installments), exempt from income tax. This was announced by the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, in a press conference following a nearly three-hour meeting with social partners. The Deputy Minister of Labor clarified that this compensation is not "a gift." urbi et orbi"To all companies, even those that are not affected by the minimum wage. Pérez Rey has not gone into detail about what this compensation would consist of "with respect" to the work that the Treasury is doing, since its design is still being defined, but he has admitted that one of the possibilities is to introduce a tax deduction in the corporate tax.

When we talk about educational quality, we often focus on curricula, methodologies, or academic results, while a key factor is overlooked: the autonomy of schools in assembling their teaching teams. The ability to select the teachers who will staff public schools is constantly questioned and often blocked, acting as an invisible barrier that limits the development of teams that truly meet the needs of students. However, education requires time, stability, and connections with students and families—elements impossible to guarantee when staffing levels are constantly changing and teachers are assigned to schools without any understanding of the educational project.

The Ministry of Labor is paving the way for an increase in the national minimum wage (SMI) by 2026. In the first meeting with the major unions, CCOO and UGT, and the Spanish employers' association CEOE, held this Tuesday afternoon, Yolanda Díaz's team sought to gauge the social partners' interest in raising the SMI by 2026. Sources from the Ministry of Labor explained that the meeting served to convey to the social partners the report from the committee of experts, which recommended a 3.1% increase without taxation and a 4.7% increase if income tax is paid. committee of experts It falls short of the unions' proposals and also deviates from the employers' proposal, which called for a 1.5% increase. However, this increase would mean that recipients of this minimum income would not be subject to income tax. Following this initial contact, the central government must make a first proposal on the minimum wage for 2026, with the aim of reaching an agreement within the framework of social dialogue. The unions expressed their openness to negotiation, while the CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations) did not comment. Maximum tension

The negotiations are taking place at a time of maximum tension between employers and the Ministry of Labor. In fact, sources involved in the social dialogue assume that any agreement reached will be bipartite (government and unions), and that employers are unlikely to join. This Monday, the CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations) was no longer part of the agreement to pass the new leave for bereavement and palliative care.

]]>

The Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, has reached an agreement with the CCOO and UGT unions to begin processing the increase in leave days for the death of a family member and for a new leave for palliative care. This measure will not have the support of employers' associations after the Ministry of Labor handed it over to the CeEO (Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations) at the beginning of the month to finalize negotiations. Following the meeting convened this Monday by the Ministry of Labor, Pérez Rey thanked the unions for "rising to the occasion" by increasing the leave for the death of a family member to 10 days and the new leave for palliative care to 15 days. "It's a shame that the Spanish employers' association isn't part of this agreement. It's incomprehensible. They should explain to the employers and workers of this country why they have excluded themselves from a regulation that puts our country in line with the rest of Europe and how they can show such a high degree of insensitivity," he stated. However, he asserted that this is no less important agreement. "The fact that the employers' association isn't involved doesn't diminish its importance," he affirmed. In this regard, the Secretary of State asked the Spanish employers' association to focus on improving the well-being of companies and workers in the country, instead of persecuting sick workers. "We shouldn't persecute those who get sick; what we need to prevent is workers getting sick. And do you know how workers get sick? Precisely when they have to return to their jobs two days after a child dies," he added. The Ministry of Labor wants to extend bereavement leave for the death of a spouse, partner, or relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity to 10 days, which can be taken up to four weeks after the death, either consecutively or intermittently. It also proposes granting up to 15 days for the new bereavement leave for relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity. Furthermore, the Royal Decree that the Ministry of Labor intends to promote includes the incorporation of a one-day leave to accompany a person receiving euthanasia. This leave will be available to any worker designated as the companion, regardless of whether or not there is a family relationship.

]]>

At the entrance to the CCOO headquarters in Madrid, there is a plaque marking the birthplace of the union's current general secretary, Unai Sordo (Barakaldo, Basque Country). The immense plaque CCOO, of the Basque Agustín Ibarrola Goicoechea (1930-2023), presides the hall contrasting with the gray concrete. "Ibarrola was a much-loved figure," Sordo recalls. The union leader receives ARA shortly after Junts announced its veto of some of the Spanish government's laws.

]]>

After this Wednesday the The Congress of Deputies will reject the bill to reduce working hours. At 37.5 hours, which also included a new time record, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor took less than 24 hours to make a move: the Ministry of Labor opened the prior public consultation on the draft Royal Decree for the reform of the time record in an attempt to approve it separately from the reduction in working hours.

]]>

Typically, when there is more activity and, therefore, more people working, the chances of workplace accidents increase. Consequently, it is necessary to strengthen prevention measures, as is the case with fires: prevention—implementing the necessary initiatives—is better than cure.

]]>

Given the lack of parliamentary support, the Spanish government decided to postpone the process until after the summer. the negotiation of the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week. It is one of the great promises of the current legislature, especially for the person who has championed it from the very beginning, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who is also the visible face of Sumar, the minority partner in the coalition government.

]]>

The Spanish government's left-wing allies are making their move in the case known as "The Swiss Six." This Wednesday, ERC, Podemos, EH-Bildu, and the BNG (National Liberation Front) presented a non-legislative motion in the Congress of Deputies requesting that Pedro Sánchez's administration grant a pardon to the six Asturian trade unionists who voluntarily entered prison a week ago after the defense judge and the Prosecutor's Office suspended their sentences.

]]>

Every day in Catalonia, around 200 public health professionals perform transplants, either in the operating room or on call. This means they must be within a maximum of one hour of the hospital in case a compatible organ becomes available for a patient on the waiting list. Last year, 1,344 transplants were performed, almost four per day, and according to data from the Catalan Transplant Organization (OCATT), this is one of the highest rates in the world. These are highly complex procedures that require different profiles working in unison to ensure that organs are harvested as required, transported safely, and transplanted to those who need them. Although this work is essential, the salaries of the workers who make it possible have been frozen for more than a year and a half.

]]>

The political earthquake unleashed by the Civil Guard report on the so-called Cerdán case, which addresses the alleged corruption scandal involving the two former general secretaries of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán, as well as former advisor to the prime minister, Koldo García, did not go unnoticed at the 13th congress of Unai Sordo, who has been re-elected general secretary for another four years. "Spain needs a historic commitment to the progress and deepening of democracy, which requires a relentless fight against corruption, in all its forms, regardless of who it affects," Sordo said this Saturday, a few minutes after beginning his speech at the union conclave. Shortly before, the Minister of Labor and prominent figure of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, had spoken, not only referring to the issue but also raising her voice against the Socialists.

]]>

One of the outstanding issues for the Spanish economy is productivity. The day has 24 hours, and it's necessary to make the most of them. Clearly, the ideal is to do more and better with less time. This is the great challenge and the way for a society and the economy as a whole to progress. The reflection of everything is per capita income. If productivity doesn't grow, neither does the distribution of wealth. This is one of the tasks we have pending.

]]>

In the midst of the crisis between the PSOE and Sumar over the contract for 15 million bullets, finally rescinded, of the Ministry of the Interior with an Israeli company, the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that next week's Council of Ministers will approve in a second round the draft bill reducing the working week to 37.5 hours per week. The date is also significant, or at least symbolic, because it will be approved just before May Day.

]]>

Negotiations are intensifying in Madrid in the hours leading up to the Renfe train drivers' strike, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, with a 24-hour walkout by train drivers. The Spanish government is reportedly negotiating with unions about the possibility of the new commuter rail operator that will manage the service once the transfer is completed "being located within the Renfe group for all purposes." This is evident from the leaked draft agreement between the Ministry of Transport and the Renfe and Adif unions, which ACN reported and which ARA has also had access to. The document—which bears the name of the Ministry of Transport but no seal or signature—also proposes that Adif maintain "comprehensive management" of the R1 line, between La Sagrera and Maçanet-Massanes, once the transfer of ownership of this line takes place.

]]>

The Economic and Social Council (CES), the Spanish government's advisory body, which includes representatives of employers and unions, has issued its opinion on the draft law to reduce the working week to 37.5 hours, with a total of 54 votes in favour and 2 votes against. The representatives of the body have discussed the conclusions of the report until the last minute in order to try to reach a consensus position on an issue that, in fact, separates employers and unions – it should be remembered that the former have not even signed up to the text that UGT and CCOO signed with the Ministry of Labour last December. In fact, the report criticises the Spanish government for having requested a mandatory opinion (not mandatory) on the reduction of the working week with such a short time frame (The preliminary draft is being processed as a matter of urgency): "A series of issues of great complexity and importance are addressed that require a calm and in-depth debate," the report notes.

]]>

There is no more margin to seek an agreement. The mess between unions and the Department of Education has materialized with the resolution published this Tuesday at noon on schools' internal portal, informing them of the staff they will have next year. This document does not include the 1,463 extra teachers the Department had promised as a last minute gesture, in exchange for accepting one of the unions' main demands, a reduction in the number of teaching hours for primary and secondary school teachers. But the unions demanded that this measure also be applied in secondary schools from September onwards, a point that the Department claims is neither economically nor technically feasible and proposed a delay until the following academic year, in 2023-24. The unions rejected this and, in the end, staff numbers will be more or less the same as this year, or even lower, if the State does not renew covid funds which allow to pay the thousand of substitute teachers schools had throughout the pandemic. The Department expects a hectic end of the school year.

]]>