The Council of Ministers has approved the decree law on the regulatory development of the Employment Flexibility and Stabilization Network Mechanism, the instrument designed to maintain employment in situations of cyclical or sectoral crises, as explained after the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diaz.

This measure of internal flexibility and temporary protection, as explained by Díaz, supposes the regulatory development of article 47 bis of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, thus consolidating its structural nature, succeeding the temporary employment regulation files known as ERTE, which demonstrated their effectiveness in a pandemic, when they represented a true guarantee of stability for more than half a million companies, protecting more than 3.6 million working people.

“It has been successfully tested during the pandemic and also, particularly, with travel agencies, where it worked as planned. This mechanism contributes to maintaining and stabilizing employment compared to other solutions that facilitate dismissal”, explained the second vice president Yolanda Díaz at the press conference after the Council of Ministers.

The Network Mechanism is included in Royal Decree-Law 32/2021 on urgent measures for labor reform, the guarantee of job stability and the transformation of the labor market. Now its regulatory development is approved, which contemplates the benefits in the Social Security contribution for companies, as well as the training actions and the commitment to maintain employment to which said exemptions are linked in the contribution. Likewise, it is stipulated in this regulation that the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate will be the competent labor authority to rule on the alleged requirements to request this aid.

Background

The regulations develop the procedure by which this aid can be requested, guaranteeing the participation of the social partners. In addition, the fund is established that will guarantee adequate financing for the social protection of workers covered by the mechanism and exemptions for companies.

This fund will be endowed with a budgetary amount and will be endowed with the surplus of the surpluses, that there are of the quotas of contribution for unemployment of the workers of the country, which is estimated at 4,000 million euros, to which it will be necessary to add an additional 3,000 million euros that will be reactivated through European funds. For this purpose, an account will be opened at the Bank of Spain itself and the assets of that fund may be reactivated during this time.

“The Network Mechanism that we incorporated together with the labor reform provides stability and does so in a way that has never been done before: dispelling the fear of dismissal, giving companies alternative flexibility and workers something as essential as training and requalification,” he assured. Diaz.

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