Spain's business lobby wants to bring back military service: 9 months of free labour
Spain's employers' association proposes 9 months of unpaid work for young people. Critics call it disguised exploitation that would spare the rich. Details of the debate.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The business lobby's plan to bring back military service: civic duty or free labour?
The proposal to reinstate compulsory military service, launched by Spain's employers' association, has peine a debate that seemed buried since 2001. It is not an isolated whim: businessman José Elías —who went by the name José Barrios Navarro until he was 39—, one of the visible faces of the initiative, has shown a growing interest in military discipline. The paradox: he himself never did military service, being part of the intake exempted by professionalisation.
The key to the backlash lies in the fine print. The service is framed as 9 months of "unpaid" work for private companies. In other words: young people doing low-skilled tasks at no cost to the employer. "They want obedient people who, once their service ends, will go and sweep the boss's floor," sums up one of the harshest criticisms. And with one caveat: the children of the rich would be left out, so it can hardly be called egalitarian.
Discipline or disguised exploitation?
Behind the rhetoric of values and social cohesion, the numbers speak for themselves. Nine months of free work for the balance sheets of certain companies means millions saved in labour costs. It is no coincidence that the most fervent defenders of the measure match the profile of the businessman who brags about having started out folding T-shirts at Zara —like Marta Ortega—. The idea that everyone must jump through the same hoop clashes with the reality that the hoop is always placed at the bottom.
Individualism as the enemy
"Individualism, promoted by the mass media, is what's in fashion now," argue those who long for military service as a school of collectivism. But recent history shows that when governments and employers' associations invoke the common good, they usually demand sacrifices from those at the bottom. The geopolitical conflicts in Iran and Ukraine add a suspicious tint: does Spain need more cannon fodder or just cheap recruits for its warehouses?
The telling detail: those who defend economic liberalism most ardently are the first to call for the removal of the personal freedom to choose how to serve one's country. If military service returns, it will not be to form citizens but to fill the coffers of a few.
The proposal to reinstate compulsory military service, launched by Spain's employers' association, has peine a debate that seemed buried since 2001. It is not an isolated whim: businessman José Elías —who went by the name José Barrios Navarro until he was 39—, one of the visible faces of the initiative, has shown a growing interest in military discipline. The paradox: he himself never did military service, being part of the intake exempted by professionalisation.
The key to the backlash lies in the fine print. The service is framed as 9 months of "unpaid" work for private companies. In other words: young people doing low-skilled tasks at no cost to the employer. "They want obedient people who, once their service ends, will go and sweep the boss's floor," sums up one of the harshest criticisms. And with one caveat: the children of the rich would be left out, so it can hardly be called egalitarian.
Discipline or disguised exploitation?
Behind the rhetoric of values and social cohesion, the numbers speak for themselves. Nine months of free work for the balance sheets of certain companies means millions saved in labour costs. It is no coincidence that the most fervent defenders of the measure match the profile of the businessman who brags about having started out folding T-shirts at Zara —like Marta Ortega—. The idea that everyone must jump through the same hoop clashes with the reality that the hoop is always placed at the bottom.
Individualism as the enemy
"Individualism, promoted by the mass media, is what's in fashion now," argue those who long for military service as a school of collectivism. But recent history shows that when governments and employers' associations invoke the common good, they usually demand sacrifices from those at the bottom. The geopolitical conflicts in Iran and Ukraine add a suspicious tint: does Spain need more cannon fodder or just cheap recruits for its warehouses?
The telling detail: those who defend economic liberalism most ardently are the first to call for the removal of the personal freedom to choose how to serve one's country. If military service returns, it will not be to form citizens but to fill the coffers of a few.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
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