Government guarantees another extension of the ERTE beyond September

The Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, said in an interview this morning that “without doubt” the ERTEs will remain for the duration of the crisis, and that the Government remains firm in its decision not to drop this tool that has been a success in maintaining employment during the pandemic. She said that even though opposition parties want resources allocated elsewhere, they will continue for as long as it takes beyond September 30th, and even December 31st, which is when the current extension ends.

"The companies and workers who need it after September can act with confidence," she said. "It makes no sense to drop this system when we will start to leave this huge crisis behind,” she insisted, and said she hopes to only have to make one more extension as that would mean that the pandemic has been overcome.

"Hopefully I can appear and say that it is not necessary to deploy another extension going into 2022, but if necessary, it will be deployed. Hopefully I can say the next one will be the last one," she said.

However, Díaz believes that the effects of the pandemic on international tourism will make further extension necessary, and has said today that before the end of September the Government and social agents will meet again "to give certainty" to companies and workers.

In addition, she insisted that the ERTE mechanism of internal flexibility is going to stay since it has been shown that this mechanism is very effective and this is a structural reform. “It is not necessary to lay people off, you have to keep up the effort and resort to formulas of internal flexibility. Europe has been doing it for a long time now," she recalled. “Many of the workers still in ERTE are linked to the tourism value chain. Thus, as we improve in the pandemic, they will undoubtedly return to their previous situation," she said.