Labor reform in Spain: social insecurity and inequality

Abstract

This paper analyzes two issues that are closely related: first, from a critical perspective, the current Spanish labor relations model, subjected to an ongoing process of reforms aimed at promoting employment but which, in practice, end up strengthening the employers’ unilateral power within productive organizations, thus depriving the workers of substantial rights they had invested decades in acquiring.. Second, we address the situation of a growing group of people who have been driven out of the job market and into the welfare system, which has also been deeply affected by economic cuts. The complex Spanish welfare model, managed by the Autonomous Communities, does not guarantee coverage of minimum requirements for this group, which is leading to an undesirable regression: we are gradually returning to a charity-care model, unworthy of a social and democratic state of law. To this end, we will explain the current model of social services in the institutional framework of the welfare state and then discuss some of the current difficulties, due to the economic crisis, exacerbated by the recent labor reform. While our thoughts are focused on the legal framework and the Spanish labor reality, they may be extrapolated to other countries around us.