The negotiations to define the new Scholar’s Statute enter their final stretch, with the Ministry of Labor hurrying to get out before the end of this month July measure. The will is a tripartite agreement with employers and unions, but while the latter comb the fringes and press to specify under their schemes issues such as unemployment contributions and mandatory expense compensation for interns, the CEOE distances itself. This is how several sources present in the social dialogue agree, pointing out that in previous meetings the businessmen sought to mark ground and get used to the idea that the Government ends up only taking out the reform with the centrals.
Labor and social agents have met this Wednesday for about four hours in what is called to be the penultimate of the dialogue tables on this issue. The negotiators of the department led by Yolanda Diaz They have promised to send the parties the final draft and before the end of the month it is not ruled out that those involved will meet again to finish combing and closing that text. One of the commitments that has been polished with respect to the previous draft is the transitional period for universities and companies to suppress extracurricular internships on which there are already signed agreements.
The new date is December 31, 2024. From then on, none of this type can be carried out and students must either take internships included in the study plan or must sign an apprenticeship contract. The negotiators thus reach an intermediate point between the three years of transition proposed by the Executive and the immediate application requested by the unions.
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“There have been significant advances”, considered the youth secretary of the CCOO, Adria Junyent. The unions are much closer to the agreement than the employers’ association, which is chaining several negotiations with the Government that is hanging up on them. Despite the agreement for the labor reform, the increase in the minimum interprofessional salary to 1,000 euros did not have his placet, nor did the last increase in social contributions promoted by Joseph Luis Escriva to feed the pension piggy bank. those of Antonio Garamendi -which has employer elections in November- have not yet said ‘no’ to the reform, but it would not surprise any of their interlocutors if they ended up doing so.
The entry or not of the employer will determine how specific the obligation of companies to cover the expenses of their students will be. The spirit of the rule is that carrying out internships does not entail an additional cost in terms of transportation either material for the students, but Labor could accept an interpretation more akin to union approaches if employers do not support the measure. The same could happen with the maximum number of interns per company, depending on the size of the company’s workforce. Right now this limitation is not on the table, despite the fact that it was.