Spanish labor unions, who alongside corporate management are playing a substantial role in the democratization and modernization of the country, are losing popularity as more than six million jobless workers demand solutions.
The model that social agents propose has not stood the test of time, and its subsidy-based financing strategy is not sustainable. And just when it is critical for their accounts to be crystal clean, the financial status of labor unions and management is murky.
CCOO and UGT, the country's two major labor unions, receive around 400 million euros annually in direct subsidies and training funding from Spain's national and regional governments. This amount continues to be too high after last years government spending cuts. The direct subsidies have been slashed from 26.6 million in 2011 to 11.2 million in 2013. There are no audits or taxes on this money, although social agents are finally included in Spain's new law on transparency.
In addition to making budget controls stricter, it is necessary to do away with the direct subsidies. Both management and major labor unions should trim the bureaucratic fat and fund their efforts with money from their members. The government should open training courses to competitive firms, which will slow down corruption. In order to restore credibility, the labor unions should shake their financial dependence on the government and exemplify the kind of transparency that they demand from other institutions.
