The Lamp February 2022

NEWS IN BRIEF

SPAIN

Spain bins its version of WorkChoices New labour laws aim to reduce precarious employment.

Spanish workplace laws that gave disproportionate power to employers, eroded workers’ rights and stunted wage growth have been consigned to the scrap heap with the introduction of a new labour code.

The old laws were introduced in 2012 by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy following pressure by the country’s European Union creditors and the International Monetary Fund in the wake of the GFC, which led to a severe economic crisis in Spain.

The new laws are aimed at bolstering job security and ending the precarious work that led to millions of people in Spain losing their jobs every time there was an economic downturn.

At 20 per cent, Spain has the highest share of temporary workers in Europe – double the EU average.

Unions welcomed the new changes. Even employers have accepted that a new formula was needed to eradicate “unfair competition”.

“We want to recover the balance in labour relations that deteriorated under the previous reform,” Unai Sordo, head of Comisiones Obreros, Spain’s biggest union, told Reuters.“Collective bargaining cannot be aimed at making wages more precarious,” said Rosa Santos, the lead negotiator for CEOE – Spain’s employer association.

Spain’s Labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, said the labor reform was the fruit of nine months of negotiation between the government, unions and business groups. “This agreement improves the lives of the workers in this country,” she said.

‘ This agreement improves the lives of the workers in this country.’

— Spanish Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz

34 | THE LAMP FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022

WORLD

Obesity levels balloon in children Many poor countries are now facing a “double epidemic” of malnutrition and obesity.

Childhood obesity has accelerated in many countries during the pandemic as children sit still at home for longer, often in front of a screen.

A global study published in 2017 in The Lancet projected that if the trends seen at the time continued, by 2022 obesity in children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years would surpass for the first time the share who were underweight.

That prediction now appears to have come true, reports The Economist.

Where obesity in children is most prevalent is somewhat surprising. More than a quarter of the world’s overweight children under the age of five live in Africa and 48 per cent are in Asia.

Children’s eating habits and levels of physical activity have changed for the worse during the pandemic. In Germany, for example, 28 per cent of three- to five-year-olds engaged in less physical activity and 20 per cent consumed more sugary snacks during the pandemic.

In rich countries, childhood obesity is concentrated in poor families. In poor countries, however, it is a middleclass problem – so as average incomes rise, more children are moving into the overweight zone. Many poor countries are now facing a “double epidemic” of malnutrition and obesity.

‘Of overweight children under five, 27% live in Africa and 48% are in Asia.’