Spain: the vote on the labor reform won in a snatch

For Pedro Sanchez (our photo), this is a crucial victory which allows him to count on European subsidies from the recovery plan.

AFP - JAVIER SORIANO

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The socialist government of Pedro Sanchez carried the forceps by a single vote in advance (175 votes in favor, 174 against) the approval of the labor reform, a legislative reform which aims to fight against precariousness.

After long negotiations marked by reversals, an error in voting by a Popular Party deputy tipped the ballot.

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From our correspondent in Madrid

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The legislative green light for labor market reform is important.

It is the first legislation of this type which is based on a consensus between the government, the trade unions as a whole and the employers' organisations.

Its primary objective is the fight against job insecurity, one of the main scourges in the country since 90% of contracts are for a fixed term, and often only for a few months.

Generalization of 

discontinuous fijos

From now on, there would be an obligation for an employer to hire after 18 months of temporary contracts, and no longer 24 months, as hitherto.

Another important change is the generalization of what are known as

, literally "fixed discontinuous", these seasonal employees in the tourism sector who are taken up each year in the same establishment.

Crucial win for Sanchez

However, until now, there was a large floating workforce that had no guarantee of finding the same job from one year to the next.

For Pedro Sanchez, this is a crucial victory since, if this reform was not approved, Brussels had told him that the next 20 billion euros of the recovery plan linked to the health crisis were no longer assured.

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• Spain

• pedro sanchez

• Employment and Labor

• European Union