Thousands of people march in Madrid to ask for the recovery of purchasing power

Thousands of people from various fields of work have demonstrated this Saturday in Madrid to demand the recovery of the purchasing power of the “working class” and claim the need to improve wages and employment. Likewise, the protesters have demanded the implementation of a “new labor reform” that eliminates “the most harmful aspects” of the previous ones. The demonstration, which has brought together some 5,000 people, according to data from the Government Delegation in Madrid, has taken place in a festive atmosphere, with whistles and the music of brass bands that have been noted in the center of the capital, in a protest called by the unions ANPE, CCP, FASGA, FETICO, FINE, FSIE, SATSE, SLT and USO. Organizations in defense of the labor rights of workers in general, as well as health workers, teachers, the transport or financial sectors, who constitute 11% of the representation of the elected union delegates in Spain, according to the convening entities. “Another trade unionism is possible”, “we rise up against raised prices” or “more social spending in the budgets” have been some of the slogans that have been read on the thousands of banners that the demonstrators have shown this noon in Madrid. Joaquín Pérez, general secretary of the Workers’ Union (USO) and spokesman for the nine union platforms, has opined that the labor reform “is not giving the results” expected by the Government of Spain , and has said that a new text is necessary to eliminate “the most harmful aspects” of the previous ones to shield labor rights. “The average duration of a contract is 49 days when before it was 61 days, which was already a fact very bad”, he stressed in statements to EFE, while warning that employment is being “destroyed” through “failure to pass the trial period”, voluntary dismissals or disciplinary dismissal. These situations “conceal what what Before it was a temporary contract”, he expressed, while, citing data from the latest AROPE report in Spain, he stated that “28% of people” are in a situation of poverty. That is why, under his point of view, it is necessary that the labor reform “adapt to what the business world is today” and “come loaded with stability and quality” at work. At the same time, he has demanded transparency in “the social dialogue of this country ” because, currently, it is “a game of mus of four” where “we do not know what is on the table”. “The social dialogue in this country has to be much more plural, much more open, and it has to be co-responsible of the employment we have”, said Pérez, who has also criticized the quality of work in Spain, the “worst” in the entire European Union.