On Wednesday, employers walked away from talks over an extension of partial unemployment measures following the lifting of the state of alert in Spain. The move came after a surprise announcement on 20 May that the government and the left-wing Basque pro-independence party EH Bildu had agreed a pact promising the total abolition of the 2012 reform brought about by the People's Party (on the content of this reform, see article n°120462), which should occur “before the end of the extraordinary measures” adopted by the government to deal with the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and employment.
For the CEOE employer confederation, this agreement represents a de facto breakdown in social dialogue, at a time when the Spanish labour ministry and representatives of employers and trade unions are preparing mechanisms to determine, sector by sector, how to cushion the impact of a slow recovery in activity. “We are not going to negotiate anything with the government if the cards are already marked in advance,” Antonio Garamendi, president of the CEOE, explained. For employers the prospect of
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