Still reeling from a devastating DANA that left at least 213 dead, groups of independent workers, unions and employers are compiling the first needs of businesses and workers to address the economic and employment damage that will also arise from this. .cause the catastrophe. Two key measures are repeated during the COVID pandemic, the ERTE and the extraordinary unemployment aid for self-employed workers (cessation of activity), but also others to face a very different context, of great destruction of workplaces and businesses.
In the 65 most affected municipalities, including the districts of Valencia, there are approximately “51,000 self-employed workers, 54,200 companies, 355,000 workers, 34,800 premises, establishments, warehouses and offices and 63 business parks”, explains Lorenzo Amor, president of the association of independent workers ATA, within the employers’ association CEOE, according to information provided by its Valencian organization.
To assess the weight of the damage in the region, Amor provides information: “One company and one worker in three in the province of Valencia are concentrated in these areas affected by DANA. »
ERTE and extraordinary aid to the self-employed
As a starting point, groups of independent workers, unions and employers demand once again the extraordinary deployment of two instruments that saved hundreds of thousands of jobs in the COVID emergency: the ERTE, recently evaluated as a “great success” by the OECD, and unemployment benefits for the self-employed (called cessation of activity).
Social Security has already announced that it will approve the adaptation of both measures to this climate emergency. On the one hand, with ERTE, due to force majeure, they will be exempt “100%” from the payment of social contributions, declared Minister Elma Saiz, while today in the legislation they are 90% exempt. . On the other hand, unemployment aid (cessation of activity) will also be approved by DANA, which does not require prior contributions, nor does it consume the right to ordinary aid in the future.
At the ATA, we are asking that assistance with completely stopping the activity be authorized and also with “a partial benefit compatible with the activity”. Furthermore, the organization already poses the need for their extension over time and gives a date: “until March 31, 2025”. The self-employed organization UATAE does not give a date, but it also insists on the fact that assistance for stopping activity must be extended over time, “allowing the people concerned to continue to receive assistance until ‘so that they can resume their economic activity.
Direct aid for reconstruction
Although the tasks of access, cleaning and damage assessment have not yet been completed and the tasks of recovering the missing and deceased are given priority, enormous costs are already expected due to the devastation of the DANA. “The situation is a disaster, a total loss of many ships and businesses. And we want to warn that this has nothing to do with COVID. That’s another scenario. To reopen, ERTE and stopping activity will not be enough. This is why we are proposing a reconstruction aid plan,” declared the ATA president.
The main self-employed organizations (ATA, UPTA and UATAE), as well as the Valencian employers’ association CEAV, therefore insisted this Monday on the need for “direct aid” to companies and work centers allowing reconstruction and recovery. of activity. . as soon as possible.
ATA presented the most precise proposal, with a request for aid “up to 6,000 euros” for self-employed individuals who request cessation of activity allowance for force majeure who need to rebuild their business and those who -this will reach “12,000 euros” for self-employed workers employing at least two employees. Beneficiaries would be required to maintain the activity for at least 24 months from the granting of the aid, suggests the organization.
Moratoriums on payments and mortgages
Another of the most requested measures consists of moratoriums on the payment of mortgages and rents, not only for self-employed businesses and businesses, as requested by employers and self-employed groups, but also for families and workers, they indicate. . the CCOO and UGT unions.
Self-employed workers and businesses are also insisting on moratoriums or suspensions of payments related to Public Administration, such as social contributions to Social Security and taxes to the Treasury.
In this sense, the Valencian employers’ association CEAV recalls “that the contributions corresponding to the month of September were collected on October 30, one day after the DANA and when its serious consequences were already known”. “Those for October, if they are not postponed, will be invoiced on November 30,” warn the businessmen, who are calling for a moratorium.
New ICO loans
The ATA, UPTA and UATAE, as well as the employers’ association CEAV, demand that a new line of ICO loans be authorized to provide liquidity to companies affected by the emergency. A “line of interest-free or reduced interest ICO loans, 100% guaranteed, to provide immediate liquidity to self-employed people and allow them to cover their urgent needs,” says UATAE. At ATA, they demand “a period of five years for his return”.
“The current situation is extremely serious and requires a rapid and effective response to protect the productive fabric and the livelihood of many families in our country. The cooperation of all relevant organizations is essential to begin the long process of economic recovery of the affected localities,” says Eduardo Abad, president of the independent association UPTA, linked to the UGT.
Extraordinary, temporary and discontinuous unemployment
Alongside basic measures like ERTE, the majority unions CCOO and UGT stressed the need for “extraordinary protection against unemployment for salaried and self-employed workers who cannot resume their activities because of the disaster”. That is to say an expansion and strengthening of unemployment for those affected by DANA.
They also demand “to avoid the extinction of temporary contracts”, as happened during the COVID pandemic, “and to protect those who have discontinuous permanent contracts”, a more vulnerable group and who – although he is a minority among the group of employees – has a greater presence since the labor reform.
“Take care of me” plan like in a pandemic
The majority unions also called for “a program similar to MECUIDA, which allows the adaptation or reduction of working hours to meet family and care needs in these circumstances”. This Monday, Minister Yolanda Díaz announced that this set of rights would be reissued to deal with this new exceptional situation, of closed schools and residences affected by DANA.
However, unions have always been very critical of the right to reduce working hours by 100%, which this plan provided during the pandemic, because it was not accompanied by paid leave, leaving workers without income.
Agility and strengthening of public services
All the groups insisted this Monday on the need to demonstrate “agility” to deal with all aid, ERTE and other administrative procedures which facilitate the reconstruction and resumption of activity in the workplace.
To this end, the CCOO and UGT unions have demanded the need to strengthen public services. “We demand the immediate reinforcement of the personnel of the health, social, employment and social security services, so that they can respond adequately to the foreseeable increase in demands and actions in each of them”, demanded the workers’ federations.
