The cancer of labor rights

Feijóo has done it again and, when it seems that the winds are blowing in his favor (with the modest help of the judiciary, the prosecution, the Civil Guard, the UCO, and a majority of the Spanish and Hispanist media, and the Ibex-35), he manages to prove that he is still capable of shooting himself in the foot. And with precision. This time he said that paid sick leave encourages the "cancer" of absenteeism and, therefore, fraud. Anti-fraud and anti-cancer meteorite. Seeing the dust raised, spokesperson Borja Sémper took to social media and everywhere else to try to clarify the message: it was worse, because in this case the message was Sémper himself. Recently, the most syrupy spokesperson for the far-right had to take paid sick leave, precisely for cancer treatment. Subsequent attempts by the party to make it seem that Feijóo had not said what he had indeed said have also not served much purpose.Garamendi and Sánchez Llibre —an almost comical pair of skinflints— pointed out that Feijóo shows “sensitivity” for a problem that “businessmen” have been denouncing for some time. An exquisite sensitivity. It would be necessary to know with more specificity, on the other hand, which “businessmen” they are referring to. Are they the kind of businessmen, perhaps, who exploit undocumented immigrants while demanding a hard line against dinghy arrivals? The kind who force employees to be false self-employed workers? Those who refuse to pay overtime? Those who abuse interns? The absent worker is a being from the same galaxy as the squatter who takes your home when you go on vacation, the Catalan student who cannot speak Spanish, or the Arab who rapes young white, Catholic, well-educated, and well-fed girls. They are characters who are part of the imaginary of today's right-wing, created from half-truths and complete lies, which serve to fill the scary tales they tell in their public appearances, their rallies, their articles and talk shows and podcasts, and whatever else you want. In any case, there is a stretch from denouncing labor absenteeism to identifying labor rights as “a cancer,” and doing so from a place as identified with privilege and parasitism as the political class.Feijóo claims to have the cure for this illness: a labor reform (not negotiated with unions) that includes a cut in the wages of workers who are on leave. It strongly recalls the labor reform promoted by his compatriot Rajoy, approved with the steamroller of the absolute majority to the cry of “ Que se jodan” , uttered in Congress by the deputy Andreíta Fabra, daughter of the corrupt Carlos Fabra, the one from Castellón airport. Almost fifteen years have passed and the PP's doctrine on labor matters remains where it was: now, if anything, with the assumption that precariousness and growing inequalities (and this is that we live in a communist dictatorship, according to them) justify any abuse against labor rights.