Labor wants to eliminate extracurricular internships in 2026

The negotiation for the new Scholar’s Statute enters its decisive phase and the intention of the Ministry of Labor is to have it closed and with the first process of the Council of Ministers completed before the end of the month of July. For it to come into force on horseback between next course and 2023-2024. One of the main changes that the standard will introduce will be the suppression of extracurricular practices, that is, those that a student does during their academic stage but that do not count for grades or are part of the compulsory itinerary. And for this he is studying a grace period for universities and companies to adapt to his disappearance from three yearsas it appears in the latest draft to which EL PERIÓDICO has had access.

The extension of this transitory period stands right now as the main stumbling block between the Executive, the patronal and the unions. The centrals, which are contrary to the figure of extracurricular internships, understanding that a large part of the fraudulent use of interns is concentrated in them, are in favor of eliminating them immediately, although they are willing to accept a suppression in two years.

From the Ministry of Universities, reluctant to reform, ask for more time for the centers to adapt to the regulatory change. And the CEOE He also does not like to give up this figure and in the last formal meeting he presented a new 27-page proposal that amended a large part of the reform. Proposal that they recognize from the employers – but of which they do not give more details – and that from Labor and the centrals are not willing to accept, according to sources of social dialogue.

In the absence of how they end up tying this last rope during the next meeting, set for the July 13, the idea of ​​Work is to redirect all this flow of extracurricular practices towards curricular ones, that is, those that recognize credits and are contemplated in the academic plan of the centers. Understood as those “that reach or exceed 60 ECTS creditsprovided that the duration of the internship, as a whole, does not exceed 20% per academic year of the time of the total credits of the degree in question”.

This is also intended to increase the number of vacancies available for them. Or, failing that, towards the new training contract contemplated in the new labor reform and which would be assimilated to the classic figure of the apprentice.

The company pays the transport

After the entry into force of the reform, when a student is going to do an internship, they must sign a kind of contract with the company or university where they are going to do it. This must specify a payment for compensation of expenses such as “displacement, accommodation either maintenance”, according to the draft (which does not establish a minimum amount for it). The company will be able to choose that, instead of paying for the transport, it can give you directly, for example, a subscription for the metro, bus or similar.

He too schedule (which may not be at night or in shifts), the work center and a system of tutorials to evaluate the performance of the student during the internships and follow up on them during them. The student will not be able to carry out practices via telecommuting in more than 50% of their practice time.

Bonus of 90% of the quotas

The other main novelty of the Scholarship Holder’s Statute will be the obligation for students in internships to contribute to Social Security during their performance. Until now, only those who carried out extracurricular and/or paid internships contributed, and now those in unpaid curricular internships (the majority) will also do so. Said contribution will give the right to future unemployment benefits once the intern has his first employment contract and is dismissed or not renewed.

However, the effort that Social Security will require from the parties involved -both universities (the main employers of interns) or companies- will be minimal-. There is consensus among the parties that the State will discount 90% of the fees. Here the department headed by Jose Luis Escriva it has been increasing its contribution during the negotiations to overcome the resistance of Universities and the Conference of Rectors, which both in their role as employers and as intermediaries have opposed any increase in costs. It started at 75% and will finally be the 90% bonuseswhich will result in a payment of less than 10 euros per month in most cases, according to estimates from social dialogue sources.

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And to attract employers to an agreement, the Government will enable companies to finance the cost of mandatory tutorials through bonuses in business contributions to Social Security.

No limit on interns per company

Although in the first stages of the negotiation Labor proposed to establish a limit of interns per company, depending on the size of the workforce of the same, now that limit is ruled out. Although it is made explicit that the number of interns can never exceed 20% of the workforce. As a substitute, the latest draft contemplates that “each tutor may have a maximum, simultaneously, of five people in practical training”. And, in the case of companies with less than 30 workers, “the previous limit will be three people in practice for each tutor”.

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