Unions criticise government in 1999 women's day manifesto

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Spain's CC.OO and UGT trade union confederations signed a joint manifesto for international women's day on 8 March 1999, in which the main point is their criticism of the government's action on the situation of women in the labour market.

As in previous years, the national office for women of the CC.OO trade union confederation and the national department of women at the UGT confederation issued a joint manifesto on 8 March 1999, international women's day. The 1999 manifesto is basically an examination of action affecting women that had been taken by the Spanish government in the course of 1998.

In general, both unions criticise a perceived lack of an integral approach to inequality. They say that government action is sporadic and isolated, and that it therefore fails to improve the labour situation of women. In particular, with regard to the recent scheme on "zero-cost" replacement contracts for maternity leave, which exempts such contracts from social security contributions (ES9809182N), they criticise the fact that it is not compulsory for the replacement worker to be another woman. Special attention is given to the failure in 1998 to apply the 1996EU Directive on parental leave (96/34/EC), which is seen as essential to enable women to combine work with raising a family, a current concern of the unions. They state that the increasing participation of women in the labour market is not accompanied by the sharing of domestic and family tasks, which remain the exclusive responsibility of women. According to the unions, this unequal burden on men and women inside and outside the home means that women have fewer opportunities in the labour market, which is one of the main sources of discrimination. They therefore feel that the Directive should be applied urgently in order to give men and women an equal chance for parental leave in an attempt to improve this situation. The manifesto also criticises the perceived unwillingness of the government and the employers' associations to debate and monitor Spain's current third plan for equality between men and women, and the unions are thinking of withdrawing from the negotiating commissions set up under the Plan. Finally, the unions accuse the government of paralysing a joint proposal for equal opportunities submitted by the trade unions.

However, the manifesto is not exclusively critical. The unions praise recent regulations on sexual harassment, which for the first time recognise harassment between partners, and the amendments to the law on part-time employment contracts agreed with the trade unions (ES9811289F), which involve greater social benefits for a type of contract that affects mainly women.

Over the coming year the unions will continue to support positive action on the recruitment and promotion of women in the labour market, because they believe that "it is the only way to achieve real social equality between men and women". Within the unions themselves, they will continue to work towards greater participation of women in decision-making posts and on their electoral lists, as a way of reinforcing the issue of equal opportunities in collective bargaining.

The manifesto arguably lacks self-criticism regarding the action of the trade unions themselves, bearing in mind that so little progress has been made either inside or outside companies and unions. There are also few specific proposals. For some commentators, amendments to regulations on conciliation are necessary but insufficient, and will certainly not lead to an effective change in the sharing of domestic and family tasks between men and women. This is so especially in a country like Spain where, as the trade unions recognise elsewhere, lack of job security often makes it impossible to demand employment rights. The apparent self-congratulation on the amendments to part-time contract rules is surprising for some observers, because, as revealed in other documents, the unions have published figures suggesting that part-time work to be an invalid - or even detrimental - instrument in combating inequality.