2023-06-27 18:03:23
The first indefinite strike in the more than one hundred year history of the Labor Inspectorate has ended prematurely and without a happy ending. Barely a day after it began, the seven convening unions –CC OO had distanced itself when they understood that this matter was being politicized– announced this Tuesday that they are suspending the strikes and mobilizations not because they have reached the demands and improvements they demanded and that the Government had promised them, but because the Executive was using this conflict for “partisan purposes.” They are, therefore, waiting for elections to be held on July 23 and for a new government to be formed in order to thus have a “serious and valid interlocutor.”
«The Government of Spain has instrumentalized the Labor Inspectorate, when we are a public service that we have been working since 1906 to ensure the rights of workers. They have had neither good faith nor transparency,” the unions denounced in a statement sent to the media.
Ana Ercoreca, the president of the Inspectors Union, charged the Executive for having used the Labor Inspection “for partisan purposes” and getting them into “a war of political accusations.” He refers to the exchange of accusations that have occurred in recent days between the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration and the Ministry of Labor, who blame each other for this conflict, which has also led to the paralyzation of anti-fraud campaigns that had been activated in this legislature, such as equality between men and women, control of working time, registration of working hours, salary conditions and risks associated with agricultural activity, among others.
Lack of staff
The labor inspectors began a calendar of mobilizations months ago due to the non-compliance by the Government of the agreements regarding personnel (lack of means, reinforcement of templates, professional career) signed in July 2021. However, the lack of personnel and resources continue two years later and translate into an increase in the workload that the Inspectorate supports, the lack of development of the professional career, recognition of the functions developed and an obsolete and unfair list of jobs, as reported.
Currently there are about 2,200 active inspection workers and another 800 support staff; that is, the Labor Inspectorate falls on a staff of 3,000 people while there are almost 21 million Social Security affiliates, 1.4 million companies and ten million pensioners.
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