The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, reveals in this interview that her flagship project, the time registration, which seemed stalled after the harsh report from the Council of State, will be implemented soon. It will be approved before summer and without significant changes, she assures. She also invites Junts to negotiate the extension of rental contracts and points out that she has a good relationship with Carlos Cuerpo, but they disagree on the economic program.
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One of your flagship projects, the time registration, should already be underway. But it still hasn’t gone through the Council of Ministers. When will it be approved?
The time registration will be approved in Spain before this summer. And I think that is the best news, because, look, we carry out two and a half million irregular overtime hours in our country, and I say irregular because they are unpaid. This time registration also serves to raise wages. Doing those extra hours is fraud. Therefore, in a country that has a wage gap with Europe of 25%, obviously having time registration and paying, compensating, and contributing for those fraudulent overtime hours is key. Faced with irregular hours in my country, I have the obligation to act.
In which Council of Ministers will it be approved?
I am going to bring this debate to the next Government Delegated Commission for Economic Affairs. This piece is key because it is a factor of unfair competition between companies that are serious, comply with the law, respect labor rights, and a handful of companies that do not do what they should. What we have today in Spain is a paper time registration, in which many times companies make workers sign blank sheets.
Council of State
In its report on the registration, it talks about turnstiles in the 21st century, it talks about a country that does not exist”
Will the Economy Ministry’s proposal to give SMEs one year to adapt not be taken into account?
Economy has always resisted the time registration. It is true that I was surprised that it was placed in the same line as fraudulent companies because this instrument is key to guaranteeing legality. Even before the debate went to the Council of Ministers, Economy maintained its opposition to this regulation, but now we are in the right position and the Government of Spain is on the side of the law, of paid, contributed overtime.
Despite the harsh report made by the Council of State, there will be no significant changes.
The Council of State made a report that I respect but do not share at all. Analyzing the substance of the matter, it deliberately sides with the criteria of the employers’ association. Also, that in the 21st century the Council of State talks about turnstiles says a lot about a country that no longer exists, because the reality is that Spanish companies already have digital systems implemented.
Therefore, no significant changes.
Significant ones, no. It is a regulatory development.
You have had confrontations with the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, and before, with the previous minister, Nadia Calviño, the relations were not easy either. Who is more difficult to deal with, Calviño or Cuerpo?
I have a great personal relationship with Mr. Cuerpo, but politics is not about that. Mr. Cuerpo’s economic program is the same as Nadia Calviño’s. And there we have a disagreement. Look, I have had a disagreement with Mr. Cuerpo about the taxation of the SMI. It is not about people, it is about political projects. And I believe that wage incomes under 21,000 euros in my country, as I have defended and won, should not pay taxes to the Treasury.
Carlos Cuerpo
“I have a great relationship with him, but his program is the same as Calviño’s”
I suppose you do not share the PP’s proposal to deflate the IRPF?
No, but I am willing to lower taxes for those who have less in exchange for higher wage incomes paying more.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft law on occupational risk prevention. But it arrives without the support of the employers’ association and without a majority in Parliament.
Are the right-wing parties going to vote against a regulation that talks about occupational accidents in a country where more than 700 people died at their workplaces in 2025? I find that difficult. It is true that the PP is capable of anything.
The Congress rejected the decree extending rental contracts. What will you do now?
First of all, to convey hope to the citizens. The main problem and the great factory of inequality in Spain is housing. What we are saying is that rental incomes, which are already very high right now, will be revalued with a cap, 2%, but the ones we have are already very high. What are we going to do? Rights are also won in the streets. We have the obligation to turn this real problem, not into an individual problem, but into a country, collective problem, mobilizing.
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Is it possible to get Junts’ support in exchange for tax cuts for landlords?
Our position is that it is always possible to negotiate, but the parties have to want to reach agreements. I launched the franchised VAT many months ago at an informative lunch. It is related to this as well. How could we not allow the transposition of this directive? We are very clear about it.
Rental contracts
I define myself by what I vote and what I do. I voted in favor of the Catalans”
Before the vote in Congress, you called Junts a racist and classist party.
I define myself by what I vote and what I do. And these days there was a firm position: whether one sided with 500,000 Catalans affected by this measure, or sided with the Spanish employers’ associations and foreign investment funds. I voted in favor of the Catalans. The problem that PP and Junts have is that they are held hostage, some by Vox and others by Aliança Catalana.
Do you think Junts used those statements as an excuse or did they really damage the dialogue?
Not at all. Moreover, they said that Sumar had understood what they wanted. So if they want to negotiate, we are open to doing so, but to reach an agreement.
Once ruled out for 2027, who do you think should lead the plurinational space?
Although they did it with me, I have never entered the game of giving names.
Sumar leadership
“I won’t give names, but we have to convey joy to a country that is progressive”
What would be the right profile?
The important thing is to excite a country that is progressive. We have to convey joy to the citizens so that they take democracy into their own hands and go vote in favor of this political space because without Sumar there would be no progressive coalition government. The times of absolute majorities and solid two-party systems are over. Therefore, I want my country not only not to be governed by the far right, by Vox and Mr. Feijóo, but I want us to continue advancing in a modern country project that keeps winning rights.
The legislature has entered a phase of parliamentary exhaustion. Is there room to tie up major agreements?
What you say is true. But it does not depend on us. When the right-wing parties vote against pension revaluation or renewables, it is because they are already willing to do whatever it takes despite the population’s terrible assessment of the opposition. That is how it is. But even so, this Government continues improving people’s lives.
Did Sumar’s walkout in the Council of Ministers to approve the housing decree affect your relationship with Pedro Sánchez?
I have a great relationship with the President, I have enormous affection for him. I say it honestly. But I am a defender of citizens knowing, without any fear, what our positions are. Sumar has its own profile, we have demonstrated it. And the great successes of this Government, those that allow us to be leaders in economic growth, have to do with what we have done even if the PSOE then boasts about it. And it is good that they do. It means we have won that battle.
Visit of Pope Leon XIV
“It is very important for the country. I hope the far right is up to the task”
The Pope will come to Spain in June. What do you expect from the visit?
It is very important for our country and all ministries are working on it. I am not a believer, but I read everything the Pope writes. And I recommend everyone to do so. It is of utmost interest. He is on the side of decency, dignity, human rights, humanity, and laborism. Therefore, I would like Spaniards to welcome him with the well-being he deserves and that the far right of this country is up to the task, unlike the insolence and mockery of Mr. Trump.
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