With the call for elections, it was taken for granted that the scholarship holder’s statute, aimed at regulating the conditions of internship students and avoiding potential fraud, would be paralyzed and at the expense of the legislature itself. However, both the Ministry of Labor and the unions have accelerated the negotiations until reaching an agreement in principle this afternoon, according to sources from the negotiation.
There is still some open point, but minor, and it is taken for granted that the pre-agreement will go ahead, according to these same sources. As expected, the employers are not part of the agreement, since, in addition to the discrepancies that they had expressed, especially with regard to the limitation of extracurricular practices, they consider that with the calling of elections, it is time to leave the issue for the next legislature.
The truth is that the latest proposal was sent to them from Labor, but, according to the employers, without even asking them to make comments on the text.
When this agreement is closed, it will foreseeably take the form of a decree law, which must go through the Permanent Delegation of Congress, where the Government must ensure that it has sufficient support to approve it.
From UGT, they affirm that “the text of the statute of the intern is about to culminate so that the agreement is imminent”. It also adds that “it will collect a large part of the union demands, such as the clear definition of practices to prevent fraud, compensation of expenses or the establishment of an effectively dissuasive sanctioning regime.”
On behalf of the CC.OO., the Secretary for Youth, Adrià Junyent, stated that “we are very close to an agreement although there are still some small fringes to close”, and that they will continue working for an agreement so that “youth do not have a entry into the world of work through exploitation and precariousness”.
And from the Ministry of Labor, they affirm that the agreement is being finalized and that the result responds to the objectives set “such as the definition of the limits of the practices, without equivocation to avoid niches of labor fraud”
The pre-agreement includes limiting the number of extracurricular practices. Specifically, it is specified that those developed during official university degree, master’s or doctoral studies cannot exceed a maximum of 480 hours. In addition, a second limit is also added and that is that the sum of curricular and extracurricular practices does not exceed 25% of the ECTS credits of the corresponding degree.
In the negotiations this week, the fines section has been expanded, including sanctions for discrimination during internships which, in the most serious cases, can reach 225,000 euros. It deals with direct or indirect discrimination, “by reason of age or disability… due to circumstances of sex, origin, including race or ethnicity, marital status, social condition, religion or convictions”, as well as “unfavorable treatment of workers as a reaction to a claim made in the company”. In these cases, the infraction is considered very serious and will be penalized in its minimum degree, with a fine of 7,501 to 30,000 euros; in its average degree from 30,001 to 120,005 euros, and in the maximum from 120,006 to 225,018 euros.
In previous drafts, sanctions of up to 7,500 euros were also contemplated in cases in which the student was forced to pay a consideration for having access to the internship, and also if they are not compensated for travel expenses, and where appropriate, accommodation and maintenance, to force them to carry out the practice.
After more than a year of negotiations, the officially named “Statute of people in non-labor practical training in the field of the company”, can reach an agreement but not with all parties. In recent days, the CEOE has been forceful in ruling out any option to agree on the issue in this legislature. “We would not look favorably on drawing up laws when the Cortes are dissolved,” said the president of the employers’ association, Antonio Garamendi. Days later, the general secretary of the UGT, Pepe Ãlvarez, responded on Tuesday that “the scholarship holders do not have to wait for the CEOE or why wait any longer.”
