The spokesperson for the Parliamentary Group of IU, Henar Moreno, has demanded that the Executive of La Rioja "not look the other way" regarding the situation of the workers in residences and day centers, and that they "truly accompany the families who need that attention, but especially by dignifying the working conditions of the workers."
Moreno made this request during a question addressed to the Minister of Economy, Innovation, Business and Self-Employment, Belinda León, in which she asked whether the regional government plans to act to mediate in the labor dispute maintained by the workers in the residential sector.
León responded that "we do not intervene in what the parties have resolved by themselves," and that "if any of the parties, as in this case are the workers, consider that the agreement is not being fulfilled, they must demand it through the appropriate channels." She also emphasized that "and this Parliament, I assure you directly, is not the channel for claims," criticizing that "what is not acceptable is to use the workers to gain political advantage from this platform."
The minister warned that "politicizing an agreement, as is being done in this case, is not defending it, it is undermining it, and that does not help the workers." Even so, she admitted that "I can strongly agree with all the requests and all the demands they have made and, in fact, a meeting was proposed, as they have said, and an agreement was reached," underlining that "this Government truly believes in social dialogue, which seeks to reach agreements, and in this case the agreement already exists, and it was signed in March."
León reiterated that the pact "was signed in March voluntarily by all parties, by employers and unions," and therefore, in her opinion, "when both parties have already reached that pact and have signed it, there is no longer any matter in which to intervene." Along these lines, she defended that "our position remains consistent with what we have always defended" because "we defend the free market," so that "this Government will never intervene in what the parties have resolved by themselves."
He also specified that this stance is maintained "not because it is indifferent to us, but rather we would maintain that same position if it were the company that requested our intervention towards its position." And he reiterated that "if any of the parties, as in this case are the workers, considers that the agreement is not being fulfilled, they must demand it through the appropriate channels," with which he considered his intervention concluded.
After the councilor's response, a protest by sector workers present in the Parliament's stands ended with their expulsion from the Plenary Hall, after they chanted slogans against the employers.
For his part, Moreno recalled that "it is a debate that has come to this Parliament on different occasions," to the point that the PP "voted in favor," even "stating that the improvement of care necessarily requires the improvement of the working conditions of those who provide it," he added.
In her speech, the IU spokesperson pointed out that the Riojan government "defends the free market and does not hesitate to systematically support and accompany companies in La Rioja, and we think that's fine, but you always leave out a fundamental part of the companies, which are precisely the workers of our community."
Moreno also emphasized that "here we are also talking about a delegated competence, a competence that you outsource, privatize, into the hands of private companies." He denounced that "we are talking about working conditions, we can even classify them as subhuman," to demand that the Executive "not look the other way" regarding the situation of the sector's workers.