Garamendi believes that Yolanda Díaz "more than adding, subtracts"

MADRID, 4 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, said this Tuesday that the second vice president and Minister of Labor "more than adding, subtracts", alluding to "Add", his political platform.

"I think that more than adding, it subtracts, and I think that more than a period of listening, what she wants is for us to listen to her", Garamendi commented this Tuesday in the colloquium after her intervention in "Cita con El Mundo", organized by Editorial Unit newspaper.

The president of the businessmen has recognized that Díaz "is a kind person and with whom you can talk", and has assured that he has a good relationship with her, despite the fact that they are "in different worlds, very clearly different".

Garamendi explained that, as president of the CEOE, his obligation is to get along with everyone and work with the Executive. "Yolanda Díaz is Vice President (Second) of the Government and Minister of Labor, let it be clear. She is the person that the Spaniards have decided with their votes to be there and she is the one with whom we have to work", she answered the question about their relationship with Diaz.

The president of the businessmen has criticized Diaz's proposal on a shopping basket of basic products with "frozen" or "limited" prices, as the second vice president said at the time.

"For a member of the Government to make a statement about the prices of a sector is very serious (...). Everyone calls this a cartel, for the minister to raise a cartel is very hard," Garamendi stressed.

The president of the CEOE has also stated that if the CEOE started talking about prices, the police would take "all of them detained" and the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNCM) would put "a cigar" in them.

However, Garamendi has recognized that the CNMC gave Díaz a wake-up call by warning him that setting limits on food prices is prohibited. The president of the employer's association has also made the second vice president ugly for her reaction at the time when she spoke of "reputation" for the companies that bet on fixing prices.

"It bothers me more. Do we have a bad reputation? Do the companies and workers who have faced Covid by moving things home have a bad reputation?" Garamendi asked.

Almost a year after reaching a tripartite agreement on the labor reform, in December 2021, Garamendi stressed that the current regulations "support the structure of the labor reform of the PP", and added that the aspects that were modified are those that "Europe demanded", like temporality.

Garamendi has assessed that the important thing about those negotiations between the Government, employers and unions, which lasted for about nine months, was reaching an agreement that will be "long-term", which will be an advantage "for this Government and for another that not be the same color" in the future.

"With the unions we are used to, but on the part of the Government I have had to deal with some gentlemen who came from where they came from, who came from Plaza de la Puerta del Sol and it is legitimate, the Spaniards have voted for them and they are sitting in the Government , but it is reality. The advantage is the long-term journey, which is social peace and we have social peace", said the president of the businessmen, recalling the social dialogue.

On the other hand, he has also referred to the income pact requested by the Government and has stressed that the employers are willing to talk about it as long as the Executive understands that "it goes beyond a legislature" and that in addition to talking about salaries it has to include issues related to pensions, taxes and civil servants. In addition, he has insisted that "the main opposition party be seated at the negotiating table of the rent agreement, because it has to transcend a legislature."

Regarding the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC), Garamendi has admitted that "the current situation is complicated", since not all sectors are in the same situation. However, he has been willing to continue talking with the unions.