Spain's CEOE employers' confederation held its annual assembly in May 2000. It supported the economic policy of the conservative PP government, opposed greater regionalisation in industrial relations and employment policy, and supported higher levels of immigration.
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Spain's CEOE employers' confederation held its annual assembly in May 2000. It supported the economic policy of the conservative PP government, opposed greater regionalisation in industrial relations and employment policy, and supported higher levels of immigration.
The Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE) held its annual assembly - entitled the "2000 Employers' Conference" (Conferencia Empresarial 2000) - on 22-23 May 2000. The employers' confederation expressed clear support for the economic policy of the conservative People's Party (Partido Popular, PP) government over the past four years, attributing part of its success to the fact that leaders of CEOE have been appointed to high positions in the government. PP won a new term in office in the general election held in March 2000.
During the assembly - at which guests included representatives of the main trade unions, leaders of some political parties and members of the government - the Prime Minister, José María Aznar stated that he was in favour of social dialogue as a basic means "to continue the necessary labour reform and to modernise the systems of social protection" (ES0004180N). He also promised the quick approval of new liberalising measures.
José María Cuevas, the president of CEOE, agreed with the Prime Minister's proposals and stressed the need for government intervention against unfair competition by certain regional governments that attract investment in their regions by subsidising companies that locate in them. Moreover, CEOE also expressed opposition to regional industrial relations and employment policies. This is a complicated issue, because the Basque Country has specific policies in this respect with which the Basque employers' associations agree; Andalusia and Catalonia have also decentralised some aspects of industrial relations and employment, and in Catalonia the trade unions - and to some extent the regional government - would like to make further progress in this direction. Some leaders of the main trade unions share CEOE's opposition to what they consider excessive decentralisation of labour relations and employment issues (ES0005286F).
Another major topic at the conference was immigration. CEOE is in favour of increasing the quotas of incoming immigrants considerably, since the production system needs more personnel - especially in catering, construction, and agriculture. Seemingly, CEOE thus supports the positions in favour of more opening up which were expressed during the drafting and approval of the new Law on Foreign Persons (ES0004183F), which the PP now wishes to reform again. However, critics state that this may be merely a question of appearances, since immigrant workers accept (they have no choice) wages and working conditions that the Spanish workers do not accept, and suggest that matters would be different if wages rose and jobs were more secure in many of the sectors that today suffer from a shortage of workers.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2000), CEOE holds annual assembly, article.
