The Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez has decided to present the candidacy of the second vice president and minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, to opt for the General Directorate of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting decent work, labor rights, and social justice worldwide.
The International Labour Organization (ILO), established in 1919 and considered the first specialized agency of the United Nations, brings together governments, business organizations, and trade unions from its 187 member states. Its tripartite structure distinguishes it as a unique entity within the international system, serving as the main forum for the creation of labor standards, the promotion of employment, social protection, and the strengthening of social dialogue.
Yolanda Díaz has been the architect of significant labor and social reforms in Spain. During her management, she has achieved 30 agreements within the framework of social dialogue, including a labor reform that has reduced temporary employment to historic levels and generated a record of employment in the country. She has also implemented the platform law and promoted the largest increase in the interprofessional minimum wage in Spanish democracy.
With her candidacy, Spain seeks to strengthen a key institution to face the challenges of the labor market in an environment of economic, technological, and environmental transformations. The ILO positions itself as a global benchmark in the defense of decent work and social justice. It is noteworthy that Spain is the country that has signed the most agreements with the ILO, reaching a total of 141, reflecting its commitment to the organization. If Yolanda Díaz is elected, she would make history by becoming the first Spanish and the first woman to lead the ILO.
Yolanda Díaz was born on May 6, 1971, in Fene, La Coruña. She holds a degree in Law from the University of Santiago de Compostela. She worked as an intern in a law firm in Santiago and in 1998 she became a member of the bar and opened her own office in Ferrol. A member of the Communist Party since she was sixteen and after starting her political career at the municipal level on June 14, 2003, in 2015 she moved to national politics running as a candidate for Congress for La Coruña in the general elections of that year with the coalition En Marea, formed by Esquerda Unida, Podemos, and Anova.
The president of the Government Pedro Sánchez appointed her on January 13, 2020, as minister of Labor and Social Economy after the agreements for the formation of a coalition government between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and Unidas Podemos. After the dismissal of Carmen Calvo as the first vice president of the government and the reduction from four to three vice presidencies, she was promoted to second vice president of the government on July 12, 2021.
