Feijóo's sick leave crusade backfires, hurting PP votes

Feijóo picks the wrong battle: sick leave as scapegoat

What drives an opposition leader to attack workers' pockets when the country demands solutions for housing, inflation, or healthcare? This question has lingered since Alberto Núñez Feijóo labeled rising medical absences a “cancer” at a conference and proposed cutting their coverage. The message, taken literally, left no room for doubt: the PP leader pointed directly at blue-collar workers as part of the problem, ignoring other public spending areas.

The reaction was immediate. Debate on social media and forums has been harsh: why does a party aspiring to govern start its campaign by targeting those who pay into the system? The timing also seems ill-advised: just when hypothetical polls show the PSOE weakened and center-right voters seek firm rhetoric, Feijóo chooses to focus on a basic labor right.

The real issue with sick leave: fraud or healthcare saturation?

Behind the rise in sick leave are factors that political discourse oversimplifies. On one hand, there is the aging workforce and increased chronic diseases. But there is a factor the PP itself should examine: the deterioration of public healthcare. Waiting lists for specialist consultations have doubled in recent years, forcing many workers to extend their leave simply because the system cannot provide appointments. “When you are on sick leave, you do not earn the same,” one analysis noted, “but extending it due to poor management is short-term gain for long-term pain.”

Mutual insurance companies already monitor leaves after 15 days, and there is no evidence of massive fraud. However, the PP chose to link the increase directly to alleged widespread abuse, a narrative that clashes with the reality of workers who have gone decades without a single absence, as highlighted by a professional with 35 years of contributions and zero absenteeism.

The submarine strategy: incompetence or deliberate sabotage?

Among analysts trinc Spanish politics, a theory gains traction: Feijóo is not clumsy; he is obedient. The idea of “turnismo”—a concept from Spain’s Restoration era—resurfaces to explain that the moderate PP is not meant to govern until the PSOE completes its work. Under this lens, the popular leader’s blunders would be calculated moves to prevent rising in polls and leave the path open for Sánchezism for another term.

There are precedents: during Pablo Iglesias’ era, when Podemos threatened to overtake the PSOE, then-IU leader launched a tax hike proposal that burst the bubble. Now, Feijóo, with his threats against sick leave, may have achieved a similar effect: mobilizing left-wing voters while demobilizing his own base. The result is that the PSOE, despite managing a housing crisis, inflation, and corruption scandals, could retain power due to the opposition’s inability to articulate an alternative discourse.

A message that fails to reach the working class

The paradox is that the PP, which claims to defend hardworking Spaniards, directly attacks the group that values job stability most. While housing consumes 50% of income, wages stagnate, and inflation erodes purchasing power, proposing cuts to sick leave sounds like a declaration of war. “He could have been tough on immigration or superfluous public spending, but instead he brings up sick leave,” commentators joke. Consequently, even traditional PP voters consider Vox or abstention, seeing no differentiated discourse.

Data on the average supporter does not help either: while Feijóo promises austerity for workers, his own party maintains funded organizations, subsidies to employers and unions, and a structure of advisors and trusted officials whose efficiency is never questioned. The perception of double standards is lethal during campaigns.

Predictable outcome: an error that will make Sánchez president

As of this discussion, Feijóo has not corrected course, and the PSOE exploits the gift. Circulating polls place the Socialists near 100 seats, far from an absolute majority but with options to renew government with usual allies. The opposition, far from capitalizing on the Government’s weariness, has become its best asset.

Ironies of fate: Feijóo, who entered national politics as Galicia’s effective manager, has transformed into a professional vote-loser. Every time he speaks, he scrapes away support. In a country where job insecurity is a reality for millions, attacking medical leave is not just political clumsiness: it shows total disconnection from the street. And in a democracy, such disconnection is paid for at the ballot box.