The importance of social dialogue in today’s environment

The property bubble and the severe financial crisis have plunged us into an economic recession, the main consequences of which are an increased number of unemployed and a high level of debt in Spain and beyond.
Social dialogue is a tool which - when properly used - can be fundamental in solving some of the problems caused by the recession. A dialogue on salaries, productivity, collective bargaining or the level of social protection of the job market is proposed as being of priority importance.
At IEDE Business School, the business school belonging to the School of Social Sciences at Universidad Europea de Madrid, the former General Secretary of the Communist Trade Union, José María Fidalgo, will review these concepts in a session of authentic Applied Economics.

José Maria Fidalgo Velilla holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valladolid. He joined the Communist Trade Union in 1977. As secretary of Institutional Policy of the Communist Trade Union, he took part in the majority of the negotiation and mobilization processes of the trade union, highlighting the Agreements of 1990 - following the general strike on December 14, 1988 – as a result of which pension contributions and family aid were increased. In April 2000, he was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Trade Union and during his mandate the signing of the Agreement with the Government and the CEOE [Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations] for the development and improvement of the system for social protection is worthy of special mention. At the end of his term as General Secretary of the Communist Trade Union, he was commissioned, along with a group of experts, by the Health Federation of the Communist Trade Union to create IEBUGS (Instituto de estrategia y buen gobierno de las prestaciones sanitarias y sociales [Institute for strategy and good governance of the healthcare and social services]). He has recently published, as member of a commission convened by UNESPA [The Spanish Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Institutions], comprising Rodrigo Rato, Juan Manuel Eguiagaray, Juan Chozas, Xavier Sala i Martin, Víctor Pérez-Díaz and himself, an analysis on the challenges of the ageing population for the Welfare State.

This session will take place on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 18:30 at the IEDE headquarters, La Moraleja Campus, Av. de Bruselas 14

Alcobendas - Madrid 28045 - Exit 16 off the A-1 (Metro: La Moraleja)

How to get there