Unions and employers will present reforms in the coming days

UGT, CCOO and CEOE have assessed the unemployment benefit reform presented this Monday by the Government to unions and employers as "insufficient" and have criticized the Government's "rush" for wanting to approve it after a year of delays.

Specifically, the unions consider that the reform is "insufficient and partial" because the amounts, both at the level of unemployment benefits and at the assistance level, are not "adequate."

This has been stated by the Secretary of Public Policies and Social Protection of CCOO, Carlos Bravo and the Deputy Secretary General of Trade Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, after more than three hours of meeting with the Secretary of State for Labor and Social Economy, Joaquín Pérez Rey, at a dialogue table that also included the presence of the director of Employment, Diversity and Social Protection of CEOE, Rosa Santos, among others.

For their part, sources from the employers' association have indicated to Europa Press that the reform proposed by Labor does not contain sufficient incentives for the unemployed who receive the subsidy to look for a job.

The UGT has described as "insufficient" not only the 480 euros that there are now, but even the 600 euros that the benefit could reach if the amounts are increased in the proportion that the Ministry of Labor is saying, and They have expressed their intention for the benefit to reach the SMI.

The proposal of the Ministry of Labor is that the unemployment benefit, currently 480 euros per month, the equivalent of 80% of the Iprem, increases its amount to 660 euros during the first six months of receipt (110% of the Iprem) and to 540 euros per month in the following six months (90% of the Iprem) and then recover 80% of the Iprem until its extinction, which remains at a maximum of 30 months, according to sources from the Department led by Yolanda Díaz.

These figures are those that would correspond to the subsidy designed by Labor with the current Iprem, which is 600 euros per month. If this indicator increases, so would the subsidy, since what the reform would set are the percentages of the Iprem to which the aid must be equivalent.

For their part, CCOO has criticized that the reform arrives "more than a year late" and with "many unknowns", and they have assured that "it has shortcomings", which is why in the coming days reform proposals will be presented to what was presented this Tuesday by the Government.

"It does not eliminate coverage gaps, it does not treat young and older people or women in the same way, maintaining the discrimination that exists today in relation to part-time unemployment benefits or in access to welfare benefits for people who have the greatest difficulty in having a stable and consolidated employment relationship," added Bravo.

A PROPOSAL THAT HAS "OBVIOUS IMPROVEMENTS"

After the first meeting of the unemployment benefit negotiation table, CCOO has assured that the Labor proposal "has obvious improvements" and that, therefore, in the coming days proposals will be presented, which, from UGT, they point out that they could arrive "next Monday."

However, Bravo has asked the Government to "clear up" the doubt as to whether it is in a position to undertake a negotiation and whether what is on the table has "possibilities of being improved", since the current proposal "does not eliminate the gaps of coverage". "We have more than a million people without benefits," he added.

"We are going to try to substantially improve this reform in the coming days and if so, progress can be made. Otherwise, we will make an assessment on the terms in which this Royal Decree-Law is finally produced, which is what it seems that "We want to launch it in the coming weeks," he noted.

For their part, UGT have pointed out that these "insufficient" amounts do not comply with the commitments with Europe, since the reform of the level of unemployment assistance is the last milestone of component 23 of the Recovery Plan that Spain has yet to comply with and Its completion is necessary for the receipt of the fourth payment of European funds in the amount of 10,000 million euros.

"We will present our proposals and we hope that they will be accepted, since we have been waiting for a long time for the unemployment reform to now close it in a hasty and probably botched manner," Luján added.

UGT AND CCOO REQUESTS

The Deputy Secretary General of Politics of UGT has assured that the union wants the assistance provision to exceed the poverty rate, which is approximately 50% of an average salary, therefore, higher than 660 but that from the Ministry of They want to install work during the first six months in which the unemployment benefit is collected with the new reform.

For their part, CCOO has requested that, in the same way that subsidies for people over 52 years of age do not have partiality in the benefit, that is, the full benefit is charged, this should be transferred to all benefits.

Likewise, Bravo has indicated that other elements that must be corrected with respect to the Government's proposal are those related to de facto couples, since de facto couples with children are recognized with the same conditions of access to subsidies, but not with the de facto couples when they do not have children.

"This catches our attention, it is a process that we have already resolved in Social Security, in the pension agreements for all situations and we do not understand why it does not occur in terms of unemployment," he added.

THEY CRITICIZE THAT FIVE GROUPS REFER TO THE IMV WITHOUT EXPLAINING HOW

He has also criticized that the proposal represents a reference to the minimum vital income of five specific groups without defining how they are going to be incorporated, which CCOO has described as "debatable."

"We are talking about the beneficiaries of the RAI, we are talking about those benefiting from extraordinary unemployment benefits, we are talking about people released from prison, released from prison, we are talking about returned emigrants or we are talking about reviewed permanent disabilities. These are groups that in "many cases respond to extensive professional careers and therefore the derivation to the minimum vital income is more than debatable," they have pointed out.

However, both groups have welcomed the fact that this reform is coming because it is a "commitment" that the Government had and have asked for a bit of "rationality" when negotiating texts that are of "great importance" for workers and unemployed people. from the country.

CEOE SAYS THAT EMPLOYMENT INCENTIVES "ARE NOT ENOUGH"

The text presented by the Government to unions and employers "does not establish" gateways that serve to activate employment and the incentives it proposes are not "sufficient" to stimulate the search for employment for recipients, according to CEOE sources. Europe Press.

Thus, sources from the employers' association have expressed their discomfort at the limited time that the Executive has given them to analyze the proposal, despite its social and employment significance.

Regarding the content, they have pointed out that a financial analysis of the proposals is not included, nor a projection of impact on the activation and relocation of recipients, nor an evaluation of previous subsidies, and that there is no approach that safeguards gender issues or specifies how changes will affect the IMV.

"We will send our contributions to guide this reform so that these subsidies stimulate the search for employment," they concluded.