Pepe Álvarez (Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, 1956) was re-elected this Wednesday as head of the UGT union for a third and final term, being the only candidate for the position of general secretary, with almost 80% of the votes in favor. With the motto “More and better union”, Álvarez defended the continued promotion of new rights, such as the reduction of working hours, and demanded that the State approve greater compensation for unions for their work as as social agents.
The UGT closes its 44th Confederal Congress this Wednesday, which was held for the third time in more than 130 years of history in Barcelona, the city where the union was born. Before leading the organization at the state level (since 2016), when he succeeded Cándido Méndez, Pepe Álvarez was a leader of the union in Catalonia, where he had a career in the metallurgical sector.
The Confederal Congress held these days is the supreme body of the UGT at the state level, from which a new leadership (Executive Commission) was born, which renewed several of its positions and obtained the support of 79.44% of the votes. The objectives of these internal process days were to establish the general lines of the union’s policy, to analyze the management of the confederal bodies to date and also to establish its operating rules and its challenges for the future, between others.
During these three days of the congress, numerous representatives from the political, trade union, economic and institutional world were present. From the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, through the most controversial intervention and assistance of the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and his counterpart of the CCOO, Unai Sordo. , or the president of the employers’ association CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, among others.
Towards new rights: reducing the working day
This will be the third and last term of Pepe Álvarez at the head of the UGT, until 2028, for four more years in which he defended the need for “More and better union”, the motto of this confederal congress .
Álvarez highlighted the union’s direction in recent years, particularly during its last term, in which it highlighted great progress in key labor rights. For example, the sharp increase in the interprofessional minimum wage, the approval of the labor and pension reform, agreed in social dialogue, as well as the Rider law and the entire union management of the pandemic, in which the unions have been a key cog. during the proposal and negotiation of ERTE.
The UGT leader looked to the future to demand the need to continue promoting new rights for workers. What is on the horizon is above all the reduction of the working day, which, for Pepe Álvarez, must go beyond the 37 and a half hours that the coalition government intends to approve.
In addition, the union focuses its efforts on promoting legal reform of dismissal and overtime, for which it has already launched a strategy of international complaints against Spain during the last legislature, through the European Committee social rights.
Paying for union work
Another of the demands that Pepe Álvarez brought to the forefront during this Confederal Congress is the demand for greater compensation for unions from the State. Beyond current public subsidies, Álvarez demanded that the state finance the role played by majority workers’ organizations as social agents.
For example, when negotiating and agreeing on equality plans in companies, collective agreements as well as other labor regulations which then turn into rights for the entire working population. In other countries, Álvarez recalled, the conditions agreed by unions only benefit their members, but in Spain they extend to all employees of the company or sector in question.
Pepe Álvarez also insisted on the need to address one of the main problems of today’s citizens, access to housing, as well as to continue moving forward in increases in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI), to improve the conditions of scholarship holders and to continue taking measures towards gender equality, among other demands.
During a press conference, the deputy general secretary of the Organization, Rafael Espartero, defended that “the union must grow in number and quality, it must face new times, it must face a new way of producing that has to do with teleworking.” “.
