The Catalan perfumery chain San Remo has permanently closed its doors. Last Wednesday, the company ordered the closure of all 25 of its stores in Catalonia – 23 in Barcelona, ​​one in Sabadell, and one in Girona – and, according to the CCOO union, as reported in the ARA newspaper and confirmed by the Catalan government's Department of Labor, has filed for a temporary layoff plan (ERTE) due to force majeure. Furthermore, the company has informed its staff that it will file for bankruptcy. As a result, since Wednesday, February 4th, up to 115 employees have been awaiting news from the company and have been instructed not to report to work.

This Wednesday's meeting between business leaders, unions and the Spanish government to address labour law reform did not end well. The executive has put a proposal to the negotiating table on the design of the future permanent furlough mechanism (ERTE), also known as RED. The main unions (CCOO and UGT) and employers have rejected it as "complex" and have asked the Spanish government to "reconsider" its proposal, ARA has learnt.

Once again, dialogue between government, unions and employers has borne its fruit at the very last minute. An agreement has been reached to extend the furlough scheme (ERTE) until 28 February 2022. After many modifications, the final text has the approval of trade unions UGT and CCOO, which have a very "positive" opinion of the text proposed by the Spanish government, as well as employer associations CEOE and Cepyme, which have also ratified the proposal. The measure is expected to be approved by the cabinet today.

The shortage of semiconductors and microchips suffered by the main car manufacturers, which at some point in the last year has forced them to stop production, has led Seat to propose to unions a new furlough plan (ERTE) that could affect up to 11,000 employees, who are those working in the production area. As confirmed by the company, the furlough would start on September 27 and would last until June 30, that is, 9 months.

Núria Sánchez (not her real name) started working in a cafeteria in Barcelona's Eixample district four months before the pandemic broke out. She worked 40 hours a week but her contract was (and still is) only part-time; therefore, of the €1,000 she earned, half were "black money". "I needed to work after seven months on the dole, bills had to be paid at home and I took the job despite knowing that the company did not comply with the law," she explains.

From this Monday until July 15, people who have been on furlough (ERTE) due to the covid crisis and suffered a total or partial suspension of their contract for at least one day in May can apply for aid of up to €700 put in place by the Generalitat. Workers on a discontinuous permanent contract will also be eligible.

It was Maundy Thursday when a man in his fifties showed up at the office that the SEPE (Spanish State Public Employment Service) shares with the SOC (Catalan Employment Service) on Sepúlveda Street in Barcelona. He entered and tried to make an appointment after explaining, in desperation, that he had tried repeatedly by phone and online but there was no way. The workers told him there was nothing they could do. "He went to the office door, undressed - he even took off his mask - and insulted us for 45 minutes because we wouldn't give him an appointment", explains Miguel Ángel García, an Employment Service worker at the office. "The man was very angry, shouting and calling us all kinds of things", he adds. The incident ended when the Mossos d'Esquadra showed up, alerted by security staff, and the man got dressed up and left.

The Spanish government is committed to extending aid to companies - such as temporary redundancy plans (ERTE) - at least until the end of the year and "as long as necessary", according to the economic vice president, Nadia Calviño. The executive had already advanced that it would extend public aid to pay wages and contributions for workers who are on furlough due to the pandemic beyond May 31, but Calviño has claimed in an intervention in Parliament that employment protection measures will be in force throughout 2021.

When an organisation looks back on 2020, whatever kind of organisation it may be, it always brings up one particular point: the furlough scheme (ERTE) avoided a greater evil. On Monday, trade union UGT gave some supporting data: 1.2 million Catalans have been in this situation at some point between March 2020 and January this year. To reach this conclusion, which means that 38% of the working population of Catalonia have experienced furlough, the union has looked at the data of first-time recipients.