Last week, Amazon announced the start of a collective layoff process that would affect up to 1,200 workers at its corporate headquarters in Spain. This Thursday, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, announced that the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate, a body under her department, has strengthened its investigations into possible violations by Amazon and other large technology companies in the use of algorithms. During his speech to the Congressional Labor Committee, Díaz announced the launch of a specific campaign in this regard.
“I announce that an inspection campaign is already underway to monitor the use of algorithms in large technology companies operating in our country,” commented Díaz, before indicating the specific companies. “Whether it’s called Uber, Cabify or Amazon, we will monitor the use of algorithmic control that these companies have over workers. They are companies that seem very modern, but with 19th century Dickensian conditions,” Díaz criticized.
The second vice president said his department will not “condone” the “Amazon model of working 120 hours a week, of having monitoring bracelets to know how long the employee goes to the bathroom, which not only Amazon does.” “We remind the techno-business magnates of the world: in Spain rights are respected and realized,” insisted Díaz.
This newspaper asked Amazon, Uber and Cabify for reaction to the second vice president’s announcement. The first two remained silent, but the third responded. “Cabify has internalized since its inception, almost 15 years ago, that people are at the center of everything, and this continues to be its way of working. As a Spanish company, we are extremely proud to generate quality employment and contribute to the economic development of Spain,” indicates a spokesperson for Cabify.
The PSOE and Sumar’s government program included a commitment to pass a “21st Century Labor Statute, which articulates a fundamental network of rights for all those carrying out professional activities”. Among the goals of that standard was “algorithm governance.” That is to say that these automatic decision-making processes are transparent and that their criteria are known not only by the employing companies or public institutions, but also by the workers’ representatives.
Amazon, which just presented a 38% increase in profits and last week marked a new all-time high on the stock market, indicated that the adjustment only affects Madrid and Barcelona, where the company has corporate headquarters, specifying that it will not affect employees of delivery or logistics centers. These are the ones who see their jobs most tied to algorithms, the very ones who won’t be fired according to Amazon’s announcement. The company employs a total of 28,000 people in Spain, so if the announced figure were reached, the adjustment would concern just over 4%.
The watchdog has an ongoing specific investigation into another large tech company, Uber Eats, over its continued use of freelancers despite regulatory approval. knight’s law. As reported by this newspaper, the Inspectorate is trying to establish whether the company’s hybrid model (which combines subcontractors called fleets and self-employed workers for deliveries) involves the use of fake self-employed workers. In October, the second vice president had warned of the criminal sanctions that the continuation of this model could entail for those responsible for the company, a warning she insisted on this Thursday. Glovo, the major player in the industry, changed its self-employment model to an employment model once the criminal investigation into the company’s leader in Spain, Oscar Pierre, began.
Employment data
Díaz began his speech by claiming the employment data in Spain, at the highest level of employment. He noted that the record also concerns women and young people, and that the unemployment rate registers the lowest level in the third quarter since 2008. “Many of the things that are said are not true. This is why the presidents of the autonomous communities boast of their data,” Díaz said, referring to the opposition’s criticism of the employment data, among which stands out the increase in the number of permanent workers discontinuous since the implementation of the labor reform. “We have more and better quality jobs,” he said, referring to the increase in skilled trades and the decline in the percentage of temporary contracts.
The second vice president also stressed that she will increase the interprofessional minimum wage again (a decision that can be made by decree), once the team of union, academic and executive experts assembled by Labor for another year has made its recommendation. Since 2018 the salary threshold has grown by 61%. “A low-wage country has no future,” Díaz added in a new call for companies to raise wages. “It is a task of the country in which we must engage, but not everything can reside in the Spanish government. Companies must also do so.” It highlighted, as Airef data indicates, that the salaries that are growing the most are the lowest ones, and that for the intermediate groups there is still a long way to go. “Pay more,” he asked the businessmen.
In the midst of the political battle over quotas for self-employed workers, the minister also underlined that “there are classes of self-employed workers, a perspective on which we never stop”. “The answer we have to give is different,” he added. Díaz was very critical of the first tariff increase proposal put forward by Social Security and which was later corrected downwards.
Opposition criticism
The first intervention of the parliamentary groups was that of Junts, by the deputy Josep Maria Cervera, very critical of Díaz after his party’s announcement this morning: they say they will not support any government law. This includes several Ministry of Labor projects that need Congressional approval to thrive, such as the intern status bill (just approved in the first instance by the Cabinet), the ten-day extension of leave for the death of a family member or close friend, or the dismissal reform. The key rule of the legislature, the reduction of the working day to 37 and a half hours, has already failed in Parliament, due to the refusal of PP, Vox and Junts.
“I think the coalition government suits Catalonia very well,” Díaz said, responding to criticism from MP Junts. “The productivity per hour worked of Catalans is double that of Spain, there are more self-employed workers and better wages,” he insisted to justify his statement. He concluded his response to Cervera with a question: “Will you vote against the extension of death permits and palliative care? Will you help Catalan workers?”
MP Junts responded by denying Díaz’s premise: “A government that has better budget execution in Madrid than in Catalonia is good for Catalonia? Does this put our social well-being at risk? A government that is responsible for the terrible service of the Rodalies (commuter trains in Catalonia)? Doesn’t this solve real problems, such as multiple recidivism or abusive occupation? However…”.
For her part, PP MP María Isabel Prieto accused Díaz of launching “empty advertisements” and of being part of a “paralyzed” government. The People’s Party classified Díaz’s intention to strengthen the registration of times by decree as a “whim”. “Do you have the support of the Treasury and the Economy for the status of the grant holder? It is doomed to failure,” Prieto added, referring to the differences between Sumar and PSOE in this project. Vox representative Juan José Aizcorbe accused Díaz of governing against Spaniards who “work” and of “persecuting the self-employed.”
