Amnesty for moonlighting

The Spanish government is preparing to give businesses “a two-month amnesty to disclose untaxed labour,” leads La Vanguardia. A decree-law, which should be approved on April 29 by the Council of Ministers, “will exempt from sanctions contractors who voluntarily register black-market jobs before June 30,” the daily explains. The government hopes in this way to fight the underground economy and “to mitigate the negative effect” on future unemployment figures, which are approaching five million (or 21 percent of the workforce, the newspaper also stresses). This is an “amnesty”, notes La Vanguardia, as under it companies will simply have to pay social security contributions backdated to 1 January 2011 and to draw up regular worker contracts. The plan has provoked “a strong rejection from unions” and employers' organisations and the “first clash” in the dialogue with the government’s “social partners” before the negotiation of collective agreements next month. “This is about keeping up the pressure for reform in the struggle against unemployment confronted with the markets and the European authorities,” concludes La Vanguardia.