MADRID, 5 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, stated this Tuesday that working at night entails health risks and explained that the only thing she is defending when talking about the long hours of the hospitality industry in Spain is that the labor rights.
Likewise, the second vice president has criticized the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for “frivolizing” this issue. “The president of the Community of Madrid seems to forget that after 10 p.m., the days are night-time and, therefore, have certain risks. They have mental health risks and must also entail different remuneration,” the minister said.
Díaz responded like this, in an interview with TVE collected by Europa Press, when asked if she maintains her statements from this Monday in which she considered that it is not reasonable for restaurants to open in Spain until one in the morning, since in the rest of Europe close earlier, or that work meetings are called at eight in the afternoon.
These statements by the minister were criticized by the president of the Community of Madrid, who defended on social networks that Spain “has the best nightlife” and accused the leader of Sumar of wanting citizens to be “puritans, materialists, socialists, without soul, without light and without restaurants, bored and at home”.
The second vice president replied to Ayuso that the Government “is very much in favor of leisure and the good life”, so much so that it has set itself the goal of reducing the working day “so that people can enjoy life.”
“What we raised yesterday, and by the way I raised it with the tourist association, is nothing new. It is evident that the time zones in our country are very different from those in Europe. It is not normal for us to call meetings in Spain at 8 a.m. the afternoon. The only thing we are saying is that labor rights must be respected,” the minister argued.
Díaz has insisted that working hours after 10:00 p.m. have to be paid differently and has said that “he knows”, from the actions of the Labor Inspection, that these working conditions in some Spanish cities “can be improved.” .
“For that we want to reduce the working day, but yes, respecting labor rights. Any worker who works after 10 at night, in any service, any communication professional, healthcare personnel, any steel industry professional who work on the night shift, you know perfectly well that it entails risks for your health. Therefore, let’s stop frivolizing these matters that are very serious for the lives of workers,” the minister stressed.
