• The Minister of Employment and Social Security intervenes in the closing ceremony of the XXVI General Assembly of Cepes.
• The president of Cepes, Juan Antonio Pedreño, addressed in his speech the main challenges and opportunities that the labor market will face in the future.
Madrid, May 22, 2018.- The Minister of Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez , said today that the Social Economy represents an important role in the future of work and goes through "putting ahead the greatest asset that companies have in the present, which are the people ".
Báñez made these statements during the closing of the XXVI General Assembly of the Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy (Cepes), accompanied by the president of this employer's association, Juan Antonio Pedreño .
The meeting brought together members of the world of politics and institutions, as well as more than a hundred entities represented through the partners of Cepes and the Social Economy in Spain, a sector that currently encompasses more than 43,300 companies and employs more than 2.2 million workers across the country.
In his speech, the head of Employment expressed the need to continue moving forward to face the challenges posed by the future of work and has referred to the Spanish Social Economy Strategy 2017-2020, as a measure to respond to globalization, the digitalization of the economy and the aging of the population "because those challenges will only become opportunities if we know how to count on everyone, if we know how to attract and retain all the talent".
Thus, he said that these challenges will become opportunities if the demographic challenge is addressed, promoting the formulas that the social economy already employs for local development, the rational use of national resources and the fight against depopulation, and promoting that entities of the sector participate in the R + D + i activities included in the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017-2020 in the field of demographic change, among others.
Therefore, he also stressed the importance of working together with the Government, the social partners, the International Labor Organization (ILO), CEPES, the Economic and Social Council (CES) and the rest of the agents and political forces.
THE FUTURE OF WORK
The president of Cepes addressed in his speech the main challenges and opportunities that the labor market will have to face in the future. Among them, digitization and Big Data, new technologies, offshoring, sustainability or demographic change and aging.
At a time when the world is moving forward on a 2030 agenda to achieve a sustainable planet, contributing new production models, in new emerging sectors and with new ways of consuming and producing, the Social Economy has become a creditor, according to Pedreño, " to have a leading role in the debates that are going to mark the model of socioeconomic development that we want to build together ".
"We face new demands, but also the emergence of new productive structures resulting from the unstoppable process of globalization that has been developing for decades, and that will be fundamental in the future of our society," said Juan Antonio Pedreño.
In his opinion, it is "essential that companies have a responsible behavior from the social point of view and really bear in mind the sustainability and interests of society."
In this regard, he reiterated that the Social Economy is acompany model in which people take precedence over capital and where, without losing sight of the business dimension, they seek the contribution of workers and the commitment to their own company. "This is a model where democratic governance prevails, the defense of solidarity and responsibility with the environment to generate a positive impact," he said.
Therefore, he pointed out the need to "stop asking policy makers what they can do for the Social Economy and move on to understand and value what the social economy does and what society can do".
The president of CEPES underscored the commitment of the Social Economy to "move towards a more just, supportive, democratic and sustainable society, which generates that equality of opportunities demanded by society and achieve a sustainable and egalitarian future".
In this sense, Pedreño pointed out "the commitment of CEPES and the entire Social Economy in the fight against gender inequality as they are competitive and viable companies that have been and are an example in social cohesion, in the struggle for a more fair and equitable, in the commitment to local development and equal opportunities ".
The Social Economy, recalled the president of Cepes, has always been at the forefront of rights in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility and this should integrate and incorporate the progress that in gender equality should be carried out.
CLOSURE OF 25 CEPES ANNIVERSARY
The General Assembly of Cepes also meant the closing of the acts of the 25th Anniversary that the Confederation celebrated in 2017. During the closing, Fátima Báñez received from the hands of Juan Antonio Pedreño a copy of the Book 25 Anniversary of Cepes , a limited edition publication that It reviews the main milestones of the Confederation throughout its history, such as the approval of the Law of Cooperatives in 1999, the Law of Social Economy in 2011 or the recent approval of the Spanish Social Economy Strategy 2017-2020.
Apart from the Minister of Employment itself, this publication has also involved the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy ; the presidents of the autonomous communities of Galicia, Navarra, Baleares, Murcia , the vice president of the Community of Madrid , as well as the general secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez , and the former deputy of the PNV and Spanish politician Emilio Olabarría .
In addition, Cepes will soon deliver copies of the book to His Majesty King Felipe VI, the President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, and the presidents of Congress and the Senate, Ana Pastor and Pío García Escudero , respectively.
