CUP Says There Is No 'Culture of Absenteeism' in Catalonia: The Reality of the Data

In an intervention in Parliament, CUP deputy Laure Vega criticized the idea that there is a "culture of absenteeism" in Catalonia. She also criticized the Government, business associations, and insurance companies for making health "a business." According to her explanation, the public-private collaboration with mutual insurance companies leads to "health terrorism" that the Government of the Generalitat supports.

More specifically, Deputy Vega denounced the project to give financial incentives to primary care doctors to optimize the sick leave processes. Vega believes this is "blackmail" for doctors to grant sick leaves that they otherwise "wouldn't give." This project, which was a proposal by Councilor Pané, will ultimately not be carried out, but CUP demands that it be definitively buried:

After this parliamentary intervention, CUP announced that they want the appearance of the Ministers of Business and Health, as well as the management of the Catalan Institute of Medical Evaluations (ICAM). "PSC is acting at the service of the business association, putting the health of workers at risk and forcing doctors to go against their own code of ethics," conclude the anti-capitalist group.

The Reality of the Data

In addition to a problem with excessive bureaucracy, the Catalan productive fabric has another added problem: sick leaves. At first glance, it might seem like a minor issue, but the data handled by employers and business associations are concerning. As recently explained by the Sabadell Chamber of Commerce, "Catalonia leads the European ranking of labor absenteeism," which has a cost of 10% of the GDP.

As explained by the general secretary of PIMEC, Josep Ginesta, "absenteeism due to common illness is the main cause of temporary disability, with 8.1M sick leaves annually." As is publicly known, the differences with the self-employed are abysmal: among salaried employees, absenteeism reaches 56%, while among the self-employed it is 11%.

In another sense, Ginesta linked the problem of absenteeism and bureaucracy. With these figures in the number of sick leaves, Ginesta explained, a very important part of doctors' work consists of managing files. In other words, they effectively become administrative workers.

In addition to PIMEC, other key business associations in Catalonia insisted on the need for education. Otherwise, the economic cost of the structural absenteeism figures is not recognized. They also highlighted the legal uncertainty that companies face with this problem, especially small ones.