Lula Looks at Spanish Model to Push for Worker-Friendly Reform

Rodrigo Orihuela and Simone Iglesias
·3 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking advice from Spain’s Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz to increase workers rights and a clamp down on delivery apps, as he mulls employee-friendly changes to the country’s labor laws.

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Diaz met with Brazilian Labor Minister Luiz Marinho in Madrid on Tuesday, a day ahead of Lula’s encounter with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, to discuss the European country’s experience reforming its labor laws to make it more favorable to workers. Marinho is also interested in Spain’s gig workers law.

“Let’s learn from the experience of Spain,” Marinho said after the meeting, praising Diaz for leading the country’s labor reform last year. “It’s not possible to talk on technological advancement with precarious and slave labor.”

Read More: Brazil Central Bank Chief Faces Lawmakers as Lula Feud Boils

Lula is considering changing parts of Brazil’s more pro-business labor legislation pushed by President Michel Temer in 2017. He has held several conversations with Diaz over the past year and she also met his team in Brasilia during his inauguration, according to two people familiar with the matter. Advisers for the two ministers have been in contact since then, the people said, asking not to be named citing private meetings.

After pledging to revoke Temer’s labor reform during the presidential campaign last year, Lula took a step back and now he is talking about only reviewing some key points.

At the start of Lula’s term, Marinho built a working group with union and company representatives to debate these points with the idea of presenting a bill to send to the congress later in the year. Discussions are still ongoing, with focus in giving enhanced rights to workers of delivery apps such as Rappi Inc., ending seasonal labor rules and to reestablish certain workers’ contributions to unions.

Common Background

Like Lula, Marinho is a former union leader and built rapport with his Spanish counterpart thanks to similar backgrounds. Before entering politics, Diaz, a Communist who doubles as Spain’s second deputy Prime Minister, was a lawyer focused on labor legislation and her career was largely influenced by her father, also a union leader.

Overhauling the labor law and increasing Spain’s minimum wage have been Diaz’s main political achievements since the coalition government was formed in early 2020. The reform was passed in February 2022 by a single vote, and only after an opposition lawmaker backed it by mistakingly hitting the wrong button when casting his vote.

The reform has seen a significant drop in temporary jobs as well as a decline in the overall unemployment rate, which is currently around 13% — relatively low for Spain, which has traditionally had high joblessness and non-registered work rates by European standards.

Critics say that part of its success lies in having created a figure called “discontinued fixed-employees” — mostly seasonal workers who always have a contract, even when not working.

Before passing the reform, Diaz also spearheaded a law to regulate so-called gig workers employed by food-delivery online platforms. At the time, the law, passed in early 2021, was widely considered the strictest of its kind globally.

Diaz, 51, is the highest ranking member of Spain’s coalition government named by the junior partner Unidas Podemos. She is currently engulfed in a public power struggle with the party, as she launches her own broad movement to run for the prime minister job later this year.

--With assistance from Alonso Soto and Ainhoa Goyeneche.

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