Unemployment benefits return to the Council of Ministers. After the Labor Agreement with the unions, from which the employers' organization withdrew, the Executive approved on Tuesday the royal decree to improve protection against unemployment benefits. The new text maintains the contribution of people over 52 years old at 125%, as Podemos demanded: who for this reason ended the trial in January, and includes some improvements compared to that text, such as the possibility of making employment and unemployment compatible for 180 days or a new subsidy for female victims of sexist violence from the age of 16.
In addition, the text approved on Tuesday maintains the improvements of the previous one, such as the extension of the subsidy by 90 euros, up to 570 euros, and extends it to potential farmers, cross-border workers and people under 45 years old without family. responsibilities. Also, the amounts received by people who worked part-time are equated with those who work full-time. A measure that the government's second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, has classified as “feminist”, since three out of four of these positions are occupied by women.
Díaz emphasized during the press conference after the Council of Ministers that this reform “improves the rights of workers in a special way” and recalled that “80% of unemployment benefits in our country do not exhaust this benefit.” “It is not a 'wage', it is rights that the working people of our country have, which contribute so that we have this level of protection,” the Labor Minister also claimed.
The decree also incorporates a point that was already included in the text that was published in January. The government agreed with the PNV on the prevalence of regional and provincial agreements over state agreements to guarantee its support for the reform, something that aroused suspicion among trade union organizations at the time. “It will only be applied if the wordings are more favorable to the worker,” said Díaz, who stressed that this “slogan” which “was already in the Royal Decree” means that the “spirit of labor reforms” will be maintained.
In addition, the government has arranged the transition from unemployment benefits to the minimum living income. A gateway that, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, “reduces the administrative burden for those who have exhausted the subsidy and need to become beneficiaries of the IMV.”
The Executive Board also agreed on Tuesday to the abolition of automatic dismissal due to permanent disability. This measure requires an amendment to the Workers' Statute, which until now considers “death, serious disability or total or absolute permanent disability” as an automatic cause for the termination of the employment contract. “It is the first time that a deep reform of dismissal has been implemented in Spain,” said Díaz, which aims to “correct discrimination and prevent the definition of a person with a disability in the working world from leading to civil death . ”
With the new wording, Díaz explained, it will be the working person whose disability is recognized who will choose whether or not to continue in his job. If you decide to continue exercising your activity, the company must adapt your position in a “reasonable, necessary and appropriate” manner or, if this is not possible, facilitate the transfer to another available vacancy in accordance with your professional profile.
“If you want to stay, we have to adjust the job,” explains Díaz, noting that the new articles will distinguish “how to do it, the size of the companies and even the government support for it.”