The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has described the general strike of last Wednesday as a "failure" and has insisted that the follow-up figures are "very clear".
"We assess it in the business sphere as a failure, I say it very clearly, and the data are very clear, the data from our territorial organizations, from our sectoral organizations, average around 5%," he said to the media this Thursday, before accessing the General Assembly of the Business Federation of the Spanish Chemical Industry (Feique).
Along the same lines, he has pointed out that an "objective" indicator is that of Red Eléctrica, which reflects a drop in energy consumption close to 2.5% during the stoppage day.
Wages, housing and effects on the external image
In relation to the reasons for the call, Garamendi explained that from the employers' organization he leads "they also raise the problem of housing". "It is a problem of Spain, of course it is, but what that does is to make one think about how many houses have not been built and should have been built, how many will need to be built, and how the various public institutions have to organize themselves to see how this issue can be solved," he said.
At the same time, he has warned that the strike day and the incidents associated with it "is not the best image for tourism or investment". Asked whether the tension in access to housing is linked to reduced wages, Garamendi admitted that this difficulty exists.
"Yes, but for that we have to talk about productivity, competitiveness, absenteeism, and the de-indexation of the IRPF rate because the State has kept 19,000 million euros that must be in the workers' pockets," he emphasized, adding as well that "they are there to talk with the unions".
Support for the Police and warning about the rail network
Regarding the incidents recorded during the demonstrations, the business leader wanted "to offer a very special thank-you and to show our solidarity with the Forces and Security Corps of the State, with the Police". "It seems they are the bad guys of the movie and they are the ones who defend us and give us peace of mind," he stressed, reiterating his "explicit support especially in this case for the Police".
To conclude, Garamendi has taken the opportunity to draw attention to the situation of the railways following the accident in Urda (Toledo). "I think we have to talk, because we have that issue very close at hand—trains; we have to talk about where the investment is, where the maintenance is, and how maintenance should be carried out across all of Spain on the trains," he said.