The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businessmen of Las Palmas (FEHT) has defended the need for the Temporary Employment Regulation Files to maintain the current bonuses, after the scheduled date for their completion, next May 31.
The employers' association of the province of Las Palmas supports the position recently expressed by the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT) in the same sense, after learning of "the willingness of the State Government to change the conditions of the current files, as of May 31, penalizing for the workers who remain in the ERTES".
In this regard, the FEHT considers that it is "premature and very risky" to make a decision such as the one proposed by the Government to the social partners, "given the extremely weak situation of companies, which have remained for a year, at the cost of no small effort, largely thanks to the bonuses contemplated in the ERTEs." In any case, the employers' association believes that "under no circumstances can any penalty be suffered during the summer months, precisely the low season in the Canary Islands, where occupations and rates suffer a considerable decline."
The FEHT, in support of this position, appeals for the Canary Islands to be considered as an outermost region, expressly recognized by the State Government in order to apply specificities in this matter, as stated in the Eleventh Additional Provision of Royal Decree-Law 24/2020, of June 26.
"It is precisely in these critical moments, where a possibility for the reactivation of the sector is glimpsed, during the coming months, when the best conditions are needed for companies to avoid a fall from which they could no longer reincorporate. Conditions that must come from the generalized vaccination of the Canarian population, which will reinforce the hygienic-sanitary security and the image of a safe destination; the immediate application of the European health certificate and the generalized validation of antigen tests (fast, cheap and accessible), instead of PCRs; in addition to the necessary direct support to the sector, such as non-refundable subsidies, to compensate for the losses suffered during an entire year," says the employers' association.
The FEHT also celebrates the position of the Canarian Council of Labor Relations, which last Wednesday expressed itself in the same line, in the sense of maintaining the current system of exemption from business contributions to Social Security, in the aforementioned Temporary Employment Regulation Files.