Alejandra Olcese
Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-17:09
Reform How are the unemployment benefits and what does it mean that Podemos has overturned the Díaz reform?
Cambio Díaz wants to grant unemployment only with a "responsible declaration" from the affected person and then have the Treasury verify
The Government is contemplating raising the
unemployment benefit for those over 52 years of age
in order to be able to carry out its reform in Parliament - necessary to be able to access the fourth disbursement of European funds - and recover the lost vote of
Podemos
, which in December decided to overthrow the decree considering that it represented a cut for this group.
This decree, which the
Ministry of Labor
did not previously negotiate with employers and unions, gradually eliminated the
overpayment
to Social Security that was incorporated in 2019 and that allowed those over 52 years of age who received unemployment benefits to contribute for 125 % of the minimum contribution base -which is equivalent to the Minimum Interprofessional Wage-, so that this situation of unemployment would not entail a detriment to the subsequent calculation of your
retirement pension
(which is calculated according to the income of the last years prior to access to retirement). This meant that, although they received a
subsidy
of about
480 euros
, they contributed to Social Security as if they were earning
125% of the minimum
contribution base, that is,
1,180.5 euros
(since the minimum base was 944.4 euros). ), something that would benefit them when they access their retirement pension
However, given that
the SMI has risen 25% since 2019
- tomorrow a new increase to 1,134 euros per month in fourteen payments will be approved - the Executive defends that this over-quotation is no longer necessary, since quoting today for 100 % of the minimum base means contributing for an amount higher than the equivalent of 125% of the base in 2019. In addition, they consider that this 'prize' acts as a
disincentive
for these unemployed people to return to the labor market, since in the event of If they find a job that pays them the SMI, they will earn more money but contribute for less, which will harm their pension.
"The Government is willing to
explore all measures
that help social dialogue show its support for this reform," said the Secretary of State for Employment,
Joaquín Pérez Rey
, at the end of the meeting held this morning at the Ministry. with CEOE, Cepyme, UGT and CCOO. He has pointed out that the unions have proposed "improving its amount or seeking technical solutions for that contribution", since they understand "that an overpayment cannot be treated in the same way with an SMI of 735 euros as with one of 1,134."
Once the agreement it aspires to with the social agents has been reached, the Government will process the norm in Congress as a bill so that the parties can make their contributions. The Secretary of State has admitted that, in parallel with the social dialogue meetings,
he is negotiating with the groups
to have their support.
The
unions
had already proposed that the 125% surcharge be maintained and that, to avoid disincentives to employment, when an unemployed person of that age found a job, the State would assume the extra 25% contribution. However, this proposal would maintain a situation of discrimination with respect to employees who receive the SMI, who only contribute 100% of the base, something that the unions were not convinced about either. They prefer an
improvement in the subsidy
, even if that entails an increase in spending.
Agreement on some improvements
In addition to this matter, employers and unions have conveyed to the Government a series of
modifications in which they agree
and which they believe would improve the standard. As EL MUNDO has learned, they share that right now there is a disconnection between unemployment benefits and subsidies with
active
employment policies (which is why they demand support paths to help the unemployed find work); They share that there is a lack of coordination between state and regional administrations; They ask for greater
public-private collaboration
in active employment policies and that the assumptions of compatibility with partial activity be clarified, for which they ask for non-discriminatory treatment (that is, that those who access the subsidy after having a
job part-time,
a reduction coefficient is not applied); They demand a clearer gateway from unemployment benefits to the Minimum Vital Income (
IMV
), so that no one is left unprotected or in a worse situation; and that family members and cohabitants who earn 75% of the Minimum Wage be included in the calculation of the family unit.
Apart from these joint claims,
UGT and CCOO
ask that the amounts
of the subsidies
be increased
. "They have moved too far from the poverty thresholds, which is why from UGT we have defended that the Iprem, which was created 20 years ago, was then dissociated from the SMI and which currently does not even reach 50% of the SMI. It seems to us that it is due
repeal the Iprem
and link the assistance subsidies to the poverty thresholds, which we have already done in contributory and non-contributory pensions and the IMV. It seems to us that it would be the appropriate way to set amounts that were certainly sufficiently dignified," he said. claimed
Fernando Luján,
deputy secretary of union policy. This matter, however, must be raised within the framework of the negotiation of the
General State
Budgets , as they have been informed.
They also defend increasing the field of action and beginning to
cover new groups
such as cross-border workers from Ceuta and Melilla who reside in Morocco, the expansion of agricultural personnel or the extension to those under 45 years of age.
For their part,
employers
have asked Labor to review the point in the Employment Law that
requires them to offer "quality, indefinite and guaranteed
" work to an unemployed person, since they consider that it is too much of a requirement. restrictive. The Ministry, however, views it negatively: "We are not willing to review one of the guarantees of the activity agreement that is in the Employment Law and that seems fundamental to us," stressed the Secretary of State.
The draft on which talks have begun is the royal decree-law that was taken down in December and that they will use to outline the modifications. This text also includes an
important modification
for the collective bargaining that the PSOE agreed with the
PNV
in exchange for the investiture: the new prevalence of
regional collective agreements
over state ones, which will have repercussions and worsen the gap between workers in some territories and others.