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  • Labor Day: Unions take to the streets and take the demonstration to the networks

The almost complete stoppage of activity and the confinement of the population due to the effects of the coronavirus mark the celebration of this unusual May Day. With an unemployment rate of 14.4% and the Government's forecasts, which indicate that it will rise to 19% this year, the UGT and CCOO unions cling to the figure of the ERTE to protect employment and demand an agreement with the employers CEOE and the Executive to extend them beyond the state of alarm.

"We must continue the agreement we reached with CEOE to launch the ERTE. It would not be good if we reached that agreement without CEOE or without unions. We must think about workers and companies to face this future," said Pepe Álvarez , Secretary General of the UGT, at a virtual press conference on the occasion of International Labor Day.

The labor market is being one of the most affected by the pandemic. The Active Population Survey (EPA) published this week includes part of these effects, although not all, since the data collected by the National Statistics Institute (INE) only arrives until the last day of March. According to their figures, unemployment rose by 121,000 people in the first quarter of the year, which is 3.8% more than in the previous quarter, and employment decreased by 285,600 jobs (-1.4%) , thus accusing part of the impact of the health crisis and the declaration of the state of alarm as of mid-March. In both cases it is the worst unemployment and employment records since 2013. At the end of March, the total number of unemployed stood at 3,313,000 and the number of employed persons, at 19,681,300 people.

Despite the cascade of negative data, Unai Sordo , CCOO general secretary, believes that they could be much worse. "If we had not put ERTE in place, the destruction of employment today would be counted by millions" and that is why it hopes to renew "in the coming days" an agreement to keep them in force and that "they continue to function as a kind of temporary freezer of employment "

In the opinion of those responsible for the CCOO and UGT, the agreement must first be between employers and unions, and then have the backing of the Government, as was done with the first package of extraordinary measures. "We are convinced that the ideal would be an agreement between and business organizations that could be echoed by the Government through the BOE, as was done in the first package of measures," said Sordo.

But this claim is not the only one that the two unions have transferred this Friday. Both have called for greater social protection for individuals and families who have no recourse to survive this crisis, as well as the need to promote lines of financing and liquidity for small and medium-sized companies. "If the productive fabric disappears in this crisis, jobs will disappear in the medium and long term," said the head of CCOO.

Online demonstration

As part of the celebration of International Labor Day, UGT and CCOO have called for a day of vindication under the motto "Work and public services. Another economic and social model is necessary" , which include online protests and a tribute concert.

The general secretaries of both union formations, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, will carry out a tribute ceremony to the essential workers of this pandemic, such as those in the socio-sanitary field, people care, supermarkets, food chains, transport or cleaning, and they will deliver their speeches before starting a virtual demonstration.

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