“We have to protect those who work and those who are sick”

The economic team of the PP has come out in a rush to defend the words of Alberto Núñez Feijóo on how to stop the brutal increase in sick leave, held at an event with Basque businessmen this Tuesday, and against the “manipulation” of those words by the Government.

Juan Bravodeputy secretary of the Treasury of the PP, has stated that the growth in sick leave is related to absenteeism from work and has assured that on Mondays “almost 1,700,000 people miss work, almost double the number missing on a Friday.”

In statements to the program The Critical Look of Telecinco, the popular leader has reflected on the level of absenteeism generated as a result of sick leave, stating that in 2018 the cost was 14,000 million, while, in data from 2025 at the end of the year, it is more than double, with 33,000 million.

In his opinion, these are the data that must be taken into account so that people know the extent of the problem. «Today, year 2025 closed, there are more than 33,000 million euros. And people will say, ‘Is 33 billion euros a lot or a little?’ exclaimed the PP leader.

That said, he has pointed out that this amount is half of the Education budget, a third of the Health budget of all of Spain or the budget of the entire Community of Madrid. “I think this has to lead us to reflect,” he stressed.

Furthermore, and in relation to the statements of the popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, about sick leave and absenteeism from work, in which he has defined this problem as a ‘cancer’, Bravo has brought to light a fact that indicates that 50% of all sick leave are centered on 10% of the workers.

«10% of the workers have 50% of the sick leave. And 3 out of every 4 workers, in 2024, will not miss a single day of work. Therefore, I believe that this creates imbalances,” declared the ‘popular’ leader.

He recalled that in 2024 the Government already raised a debate on absenteeism from work and Sánchez “said that he was going to make a royal decree to take measures to correct absenteeism” and he has not done so.

Alberto Nadal, Deputy Secretary of Economy, warned this Wednesday that absenteeism has skyrocketed “without the Government doing absolutely anything” and has defended that ending this “abuse” is defending the worker.

“70% of Spaniards never take sick leave, but absenteeism has skyrocketed without the Government doing anything at all,” Nadal said in a message published on the social network ‘X’.

According to the PP deputy secretary of Economy, the result of all this is that companies are “suffocated”, colleagues are burdened with other people’s work and that the cost for Social Security rises to 18.4 billion euros.

“Ending abuse is defending the worker,” Nadal stressed in his message, a day after the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, stated that absenteeism is a “cancer that we cannot pay for” and questioned whether a worker on sick leave earns the same as when he is working.