The unemployment subsidy reform for those who have exhausted their contributory benefit and which was approved by the Government on December 19 was blocked this Wednesday in Congress.
The opposing votes of Podemos, PP and Vox and the absence of Junts in the hemicycle resulted in 167 yes votes and 176 no votes.
The main improvements planned were aimed at raising the amount of the subsidy to 570 euros (now it is 480) and extending it to people under 45 years of age without family responsibilities.
The Second Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, whose department led the proposed reform, has accused Podemos this Thursday of "hitting" workers "hand in hand with Vox and the PP", by voting against the decree that reformed the unemployment subsidy.
The vote against by Podemos has been justified by the purple formation based on the cut in the contribution base for those over 52 years of age also foreseen in the reform.
Currently the State contributes for them by an amount of 125% of the minimum base set each year legally. The reform included a progressive reduction of this percentage, which would result in a smaller pension. This cut in the contribution base has also been criticized by the unions.
According to the Ministry of Labor, led by Yolanda Díaz, the 125% contribution was a "patch to compensate" a very low interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) in the past and which is now 50% higher, so they no longer considered it necessary to maintain that compensation.
