Social
Madrid abolishes controversial labor market reform
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain. Photo: Olivier Hoslet / Pool EPA / AP / dpa
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Differences within the coalition had repeatedly delayed the project. But the Spanish government wants to finally abolish the controversial labor market reform.
The left government in Spain has announced the abolition of the controversial conservative labor market reform of 2012.
“Today the country’s workers have won a victory,” said Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz to journalists in Madrid. The left alliance had previously reached an agreement on this sensitive issue at a meeting between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and several ministers on Tuesday, Madrid announced. The project is in line with the commitments made towards the EU and should be implemented by the end of the year, it said.
The government wants to coordinate the project with the social partners in the next few months. Details were not disclosed for the time being. The abolition must be approved by Parliament.
The major reform gave employers more flexibility in hiring and dismissing employees. Sánchez had already reversed some parts of the reform. Last year, for example, an article of the labor statute that allowed dismissal without notice due to frequent sick leave was repealed by decree.
Regardless of the flexible employment and dismissal laws that have been in place for almost ten years, Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in the European Union at 14.5 percent.