The Second Vice-President and Minister for Employment and the Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, inaugurated a new stage in social and labour cooperation during a meeting in London with her British counterpart, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, in which both agreed to make progress on employment rights for workers.

Díaz opens a new stage of bilateral cooperation with the British Minister of Labour of the United Kingdom

‘We have exchanged ideas, and projects and identified common positions that are shaping up as a good basis for bilateral cooperation to advance the rights of workers’, said Vice-President Díaz.

Labour reforms
Kendall, who forms part of the new British Labour government established after the elections last July, is a pro-European politician who in recent years has defended a living wage for workers.

The Labour politician explained to Díaz the priorities of her Department, which include strengthening the rights of wage earners and putting an end to labour flexibility in favour of employers alone, measures that she intends to promote through social dialogue.

Díaz pointed out, in this regard, that negotiations are currently underway with the social partners to reduce the working week from 40 to 37.5 hours a week.

She also analysed with Kendall the wide-ranging package of reforms promoted by her ministry, which have led to improvements in employment and its quality. ‘Today more than 21.2 million people work in Spain, more than ever, and, thanks to the labour reform of 2021, we have reduced our rate of temporary employment in private employment to below the European average’, said the Vice-President.

And she highlighted the importance of reaching agreements within the framework of social dialogue, due to the legitimacy that this gives them, as well as the boost that the rise in the minimum inter-professional wage, which has increased by 54% in the last five years, has brought to the labour market. Kendall also expressed interest in initiatives related to mental health, as well as in active employment policies.

‘In Spain or the United Kingdom, the best way to look after our democracies is to extend labour rights’, said the minister at the end of the meeting.

Meetings with Nowak, Jones and the Hispanic community
In Díaz’s first official visit to the UK, the Vice-President also met with leader Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the largest British trade union confederation, the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The two discussed the high level of labour unrest in the UK in recent years following decades of neoliberal economic policies, which have been detrimental to workers’ rights.