José María Torres, president of the National Confederation of SMEs (CONPYMES), a national organization that represents more than 2 million SMEs and self-employed workers in Spain and of which ANAFRIC is a member, requested this Wednesday in Brussels that Spain include SMEs in social dialogue.
With this objective, Torres has held different meetings with MEPs from PSOE, PP and VOX, whom he has asked to present initiatives in the European Parliament to urge Spain to comply with the recommendations of the European Commission and with the Government’s Annual Regulatory Plan (PAN) for 2024.
The president of CONPYMES has recalled that “the European Commission approved on June 12, 2023 the Council Recommendation on the reinforcement of social dialogue in the European Union with the aim of reinforcing it both at national and European level.” “The Recommendation stresses the need to require Member States to guarantee, in their respective areas, open and transparent procedures for recognising trade union and business representation, something that Spain lacks in the case of business representation, as CONPYMES has repeatedly denounced.”
Anomalous representation
Furthermore, José María Torres has noted that “although in Europe large companies are represented by BusinessEurope and SMEs by SMEunited, in Spain there is a major anomaly in the mechanisms for consultation, since only one organisation, called the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (abbreviated CEOE), within the Social Dialogue with the Government of Spain and trade union organisations, exclusively represents the interests of all Spanish businessmen, both large and small, despite the fact that in most cases its proposals only defend the interests of large companies.”
“This monopoly on representation, which occurred when democracy was established in Spain in the 1970s, means that SMEs and self-employed workers, who represent 99.8% of the business fabric and 75% of employment, are not included in institutional representation, agreement and social dialogue,” he added, stating that “this is not optimal for any labour market and should be resolved immediately.”
On the other hand, Torres recalled that the Annual Regulatory Plan (PAN) for 2024 included a Law regulating business representation in the field of SMEs, with the aim of developing the rules of business representation, especially those relating to the greater representation of small and medium-sized companies in the field of social dialogue, collective bargaining and institutional participation.
During the meetings held at the European Parliament, Torres also stressed that “social dialogue is a fundamental pillar of democracy, an essential component of the European social model, which must allow social partners – representatives of companies and workers – who must be democratically elected, to actively contribute to the development of European social and labour policy.”
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