The Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, announced on Wednesday that her department would file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Generalitat Valenciana for the cancellation of a sanction from the Inspectorate against a Temporary Union of Companies (UTE). The sanction of the inspection body is due to the actions of this UTE during the dana of October 29 last year, by forcing an employee to work who ended up dying, as explained by the second vice president.
Díaz began to present the case by reading some statements of the deceased’s mother in the newspaper The provinces. “My son’s job was to check the bridges to see the defects and then have them repaired by others. It was not necessary for him to be on the road that day, they sent him to his death,” says the mother of Luis Ángel Sáiz Rodríguez, who died on October 29 last year. According to this newspaper, he filed a criminal complaint demanding criminal liability for the death of his son from the UTE for which he worked.
After reading these statements from the victim’s mother, Díaz stressed that “the concessionary company forced him to work in full red alert, outside of his schedule, thus putting his life in danger.” “He died on his way home because someone decided that productivity was above his integrity, above his life,” added the second vice president.
“The Labor Inspectorate acted. And do you know what Mr. Mazón and the PP did in Valencia? Even though the Inspectorate wrote a report, it canceled this act,” said Díaz, before specifying the next step of his ministry: “I announce that we are going to go to the Prosecutor’s Office, even if it revoked the infraction report. Do you believe, ladies and gentlemen of the PP, that when the Labor Inspectorate acts, a political accusation can come and cancel the report after the death of a worker? This does not respect the institutions.
According to the ministry, the cancellation of the sanction is the responsibility of the General Directorate of Labor of the Generalitat Valenciana. They justify the cancellation, according to the ministry, by the fact that the employer does not incur liability when the accident occurs due to force majeure. Labor counters that the Dana natural disaster does not absolve preventive responsibilities. The dana cost the lives of 229 people in Valencia, seven in Castile-La Mancha and one in Andalusia
This announcement by Díaz is part of his response in Congress to PP spokesperson Ester Muñoz during the government control session. The head of Labor highlighted this action by the Generalitat Valenciana as an example of “degradation of institutions”, after being accused by the popular of her permanence in the Executive despite alleged cases of corruption and sexual harassment within the PSOE.
“Madam Vice President, how can you stand the foul smell that surrounds you? What must happen for you to leave this government?” Muñoz criticized her, accusing Díaz of “putting political interest before victims.” “Hypocrisy has long been the price he pays for his official apartment,” added the popular woman, alluding to an accusation made by José Luis Ábalos before his entry into prison, in which he questioned the use of this property. Díaz denied this accusation and defended that there was no irregularity.
Before announcing that she would file a complaint against the Generalitat, Díaz responded to Muñoz that she condemned machismo “wherever it comes from” and criticized the PP for not supporting the anti-corruption measures championed by the government.
About The Author
