The Minister of Labor and Second Vice President, Yolanda Diaz, has advocated this Monday for limiting the hours of hospitality businesses instead of expanding them. “It’s not reasonable a country that has its restaurants open at one in the morning,” he declared in a speech in the Congress of Deputies before the Sumar parliamentary group.
Díaz has compared the time differences in our country with the rest of Europe and considers “a craziness” intend to continue extending the closing time “until we don’t know what time.”
These statements are part of Sumar’s commitment to betting on reduction of working hoursl, one of the policies agreed with the PSOE to address in the current legislature. The party defends that this reduction, without loss of salary, will positively transform the lives of working people, improving family balance and helping to combat social inequality.
Thus, the minister considers that “We must open a great social debate” and not limit the actions to this reduction in working hours, but that this must be accompanied by other measures to facilitate this conciliation. In this sense, she has stated that her department is already working on a time rationalization of work.
These statements have generated a series of very critical contrary reactions from various members of the Popular Party, such as the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayusoa well-known defender of time freedom, especially in the hospitality industry, and assures that Spain “is different” because it has “the best nightlife in the world with the streets full of life and freedom.”
Also the leisure and entertainment employers’ association Spain at Night has shown its rejection of the proposal raised by the minister. Vicente Pizcuetaits representative, has stated that “it makes no sense” to focus only on the hospitality sector “without making an in-depth sociological approach to the hours in Spanish society”, and that limiting the hours would only benefit competing countries in the tourism sector.
For its part, José Luis Yzuelpresident of Hospitality of Spain, has harshly criticized Díaz, accusing her of “not having a clue” and directly of “lie” about the hours in their sector, ensuring that those restaurants that open until dawn are exceptional and “anecdotal” cases, since many have the dual license to also function as cocktail bars.
Images | The Moncloa
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