Tripartite social dialogue stands at a tipping point in this legislative session. The government opening its doors to a different employer association beyond the CEOE has been the final drop in a long line of clashes over recent months. A business leader consulted for this piece bluntly declared, “It has become clear that any agreement is being skipped. We will keep showing up to the talks, but right now we cannot sign anything.”
The strained relationship among the negotiators, the distrust spreading from the Ministry of Labor to the presidency in Moncloa, and the fragile parliamentary math governing the coalition complicate the prospect of short term transversal deals that were common during the pandemic. Those deals included covid unemployment benefits, the remote work law, and the Rider act. The most celebrated social agreement for the government, particularly by its second deputy prime minister, was the labor reform. This reform had employer backing but also internal division.
In the wake of that landmark pact, another business leader interviewed situates the start of the end of consensus. “Knowing what came next, more than a few within the CEOE would not back labor reform,” he notes.
The major clash earlier occurred when the executive branch approved, camouflaged as an amendment in the employment law, a strengthening of the Labour Inspectorate in the handling of the layoff procedure under the ERE. It was decided that every ERE must precede with a report from the Labour Inspectorate to determine whether there is a legitimate cause for the file. The reform was sold by the Ministry of Labor and EH Bildu as a partial restoration of the administrative authorization that the 2012 ruling by the PP had reduced.
Since then Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE, has not appeared in any joint photo with the government and the unions. He has refused to back increases in the minimum wage for 2023 and 2024, with a separate critique in 2024 suggesting Díaz wears the jersey of the opposing team. He has also opposed the latest pension reform and the most recent change to unemployment subsidies. Critics from the union side argued that the reform of subsidies closed a year long delay and parliamentary setback, accusing the Sumar leader of electoralism as the package was finalized just days before regional elections in Catalonia.
Parliamentary weakness and social friction
The parliamentary setback surrounding the decree on unemployment subsidies in January marks a near turning point in social dialogue. During that session, the vote marked the first visible break between Sumar and Podemos, intensifying the coalition’s arithmetic and complicating the passage of new norms in this legislature. A union negotiator notes that further concessions to various groups will be required, making it unlikely that previously agreed elements of the social dialogue will remain unchanged.
Concessions to the Basque Nationalist Party forced the government to embed within the real decree on unemployment subsidies a priority for regional conventions over national ones. The CEOE opposes this shift and had demanded it be rejected during the labor reform talks.
The decree also included a surprise tweak to the Economic and Social Council to allow regional employers like Pimec, interpreted as a concession to Junts and ERC, and seen as a challenge to the national monopoly held by the CEOE. A sindical negotiator describes this as the drop that finally filled the glass. “There were earlier signs of difficulty in reaching consensus in this moment,” she says.
The two issues discussed, introduced without prior consultation with social partners, have also angered unions who feel it breaches trust between parties. “We come from a broad tradition of social dialogue, and it is hard to understand why some items move forward while others do not,” say officials from the union federations.
Among the policy areas on the government’s agenda for this term are reducing the workday, changes to dismissal costs, a new pension reform, and adjustments to occupational risk prevention laws. An analyst familiar with the process concedes that at present a tripartite agreement is almost impossible given the current dynamics.
The first negotiating table likely to be affected by this friction is the one drawing up a joint regulation that would require companies with more than fifty workers to implement an anti harassment protocol for LGBTI issues. Last week the parties met and nearly reached a deal, but the BOE published this week is seen as distorting that momentum. Unions fear the agreement could be delayed or even pushed aside by business representatives.
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