The Government creates a commission to monitor the war with employers and unions

The Government of the Generalitat has convened employers and unions this Friday to set up a commission to monitor the effects of the war in Ukraine on the Catalan economy. The ‘president’ participated in the conclave Pere Aragones and the ‘ministers’ of Economy, James Giroand Empresa i Treball, Roger Torrent; as well as the highest representatives of Workforce Development, Pimec, CCOO and UGT. At the meeting, the parties configured this body for analysis and study of how energy prices are evolving, possible logistics and supply problems, and how all of this is already having an impact and will have an impact on the Catalan business fabric. The will of Aragonès has also been to establish a joint position with the social agents to take it to the Conference of Presidents this weekend in The Palmwith unitary demands that have not yet been defined and on which the parties continue to work, according to sources present at the negotiation.

The commission will meet periodically -next week the parties will meet again- and in said space employers and unions will share proposals for action to anticipate economic problems and react to the latest events. Minister Roger Torrent has advanced in the meeting that from the Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya (SOC) are studying measures to incorporate incoming adult Ukrainian refugees into employment and training programmes.

In recent days, the social agents have been sending out alarm signals about the consequences that the war opened by the Russian invasion is already having on the Catalan economy. Pimec estimated that 320,000 jobs in SMEs are in danger due to the increase in energy bills, Foment raised the figure to 500,000 if large companies are added and the unions have been demanding measures to shield the purchasing power of families against the increase, since from before the war, from electricity and gas bills.

One of the measures that the centrals have put on the table has been to demand that the central government activate extraordinary funds for the RED mechanism of cyclical ertes, provided for in the event of an economic crisis. “There are sufficient reasons” declared the general secretary of the CCOO of Catalonia, Xavier Pacheco. “If they are necessary, let’s activate them. We have to anticipate as we already did with the covid crisis,” said the deputy secretary general of UGT de Catalunya, Núria Solé. From the trade union positions, the Government has also been urged to speed up the refugee reception process and for the Administration to reinforce the mechanisms for the increase in war victims who may arrive in the coming weeks and months.

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For the business bench, the president of Pimec has emphasized the need to reinforce the liquidity of companies so that they can face the increase in the energy bill and the cost of raw materials, while at the same time demanding that the Administration to intercede to reduce the price of said invoice. “Urgent measures are needed, we must prevent the production chains from being broken”, he declared. Antoni Canete. In this sense, it has demanded that the Government reinforce the financing capacity of the ICF – the public body in charge of granting credits under competitive conditions – and the Government has urged it to increase the grace period for ICO credits.