Fátima Báñez dies in Urda rail crash; RTVE apologises for post on her labour reform

A career tied to the 2012 labour reform

Fátima Báñez, aged 59, was born in San Juan del Puerto in Huelva and served as labour minister from 2011 to 2018, the whole of Mariano Rajoy's government. The measure that defined her time in office was the labour reform of 2012, which was the trigger for one of the last large general strikes in Spain and drew sustained criticism from unions and the left. Earlier she sat in the Congress of Deputies from 2000 until 2019, when she stepped back from more active politics. She stayed close to the People's Party as a member of the advisory council of Reformismo 21, the foundation created by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. In 2020, during the COVID crisis, the CEOE employers' confederation brought her in for its 'Empresas que ayudan' project, and she later chaired the CEOE Foundation.

The crash and her final journey

Two high-speed trains collided at Urda in Toledo province, and at least 69 people had died according to reporting published on Wednesday, 28 October. Báñez was travelling to Seville to attend a Company Day event organised by the Confederation of Business Owners of Andalusia, where she was due to meet Andalusian regional president Juanma Moreno. Reports that she was on one of the crashed trains surfaced on Wednesday, and the CEOE confirmed her death on Thursday, 29 October. On the Wednesday, Feijóo had already expressed concern on learning she was among the missing. The speech he had prepared for his first appearance since the crash carried a 2017 photograph of the two of them, taken when he presided over the Xunta de Galicia and she led the Employment ministry.

Tributes from the PP and business leaders

Secretary General Miguel Tellado called her 'a magnificent person and an extraordinary public servant' and said she had earned her political legacy. Feijóo said the whole party was mourning her and described her as a tireless woman, a loyal friend and someone always committed to improving the lives of Spaniards. He pledged to honour her memory and that of the other victims, and he sent his condolences to her husband and children.

“We will honour her memory and that of all the victims.”

Ester Muñoz, the party's spokesperson in Congress, called her a strong, brilliant and hard-working woman, while Alicia García, the PP spokesperson in the Senate, praised her as a great woman and a magnificent colleague. Antonio Garamendi, the CEOE president, wrote that he was mourning a president, colleague and friend, and he described her as one of the most generous people he had known.

RTVE's post and apology

RTVE Noticias shared a Telediario video about her death on X and described her as the architect of the 2012 labour reform, which unions had opposed with a general strike. The wording drew criticism for its timing and context, and figures from the PP reacted sharply. Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo shared the post and called the headline 'abject' and the broadcaster 'indecent'. RTVE deleted the message and then published a new one acknowledging that the information it chose was not appropriate for the news of her death.

The broadcaster's follow-up message included this line:

“Our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones.”

The corporation accepted that the information it had attached to the news of Báñez's death should not have been used.