The president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has criticized the withdrawal of incentives for CAPs to reduce the duration of sick leaves and has assured that this decision "is a mistake". In an interview on RTVE, the business leader has placed absenteeism as the main concern of Catalan businesses.
Sánchez Llibre has defended that the debate should not focus on attributing negligence to workers, but on correcting system dysfunctions. At that point, he has demanded more economic resources for healthcare and has focused on the need to cut waiting lists in specialties such as traumatology. He has also wondered why, if a person is able to return to their job, they should remain on sick leave longer than normal.
Request for a grand agreement
The employer leader has called for "a great pact" between unions, businesses and administrations to reduce absenteeism to levels comparable to European ones. In his opinion, the work mutuals should have more capacity to process sick leaves and returns to work.
In his speech, he has also alluded to the "trickery" in temporary transitional disability leaves of between three and four days. He has asked for an agreement so that absenteeism approaches European percentages and has warned that there are companies that register rates of 14 or 15% and even 20%, a situation that, he has said, makes ordinary activity unviable.
Sánchez Llibre has placed the European average between 4 and 5 % and has estimated at 34,000 million euros per year the cost of sick leaves in the whole of Spain. Of that amount, as he has pointed out, 17,000 million are assumed by employers.
Criticisms to the agreements with Junts and to the weight of Sumar
The president of Foment has also referred to the agreements between the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, and Junts. His assessment has been negative in economic terms. He has maintained that they have not yielded good results and has added that the influence of Sumar has weighed more than that which, in his opinion, Junts or ERC could have had.
Along those lines, he has pointed out as one of the most detrimental measures for business interests the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week. He has remarked that this initiative has not gone forward due to Junts' rejection and has gone so far as to define the party as "a true containment wall" against proposals that he has described as pro-communist and pro-socialist.
Sánchez Llibre has gone further and has affirmed that that opposition would have avoided a "suspension of payments" in Spain given the proposal for working hour reduction promoted by the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz.
Relationship with the Govern and criticisms of the Comuns
Regarding Catalan politics, he has criticized that the Govern has allowed itself to be influenced by the Comuns with measures that, in his opinion, advance towards the socialization of private property. As an example, he has cited the rent cap.
Despite this, he has assured that Foment's relationship with the Govern is maintained in terms of respect and institutional loyalty. He has also explained that the employers' association did not attend the presentation event of the Consorci d"Inversions because it was not invited to participate.
The business leader has regretted that it is not possible to reach consensuses with other forces like Junts, while reiterating his discomfort over the orientation of some economic decisions.
Thirty years of the Pacte del Majestic and immigration
During the interview, Sánchez Llibre has also recalled the 30th anniversary of the Pacte del Majestic, of which he has said that it meant a lot for Catalonia and for Spain.
On immigration matters, he has defended that companies need immigration to carry out their projects and has celebrated the extraordinary regularization. Even so, he has pointed out that he would have preferred that measure to arrive through an agreement between PSOE and PP and that it be voted on in Congress to avoid the current political struggle.
With that message, the president of Foment has once again linked competitiveness, labor market and institutional agreement capacity, in an intervention in which he has demanded changes in the management of sick leaves and more political stability for the economy.