2023-05-17 19:45:19
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, has found a way for sectors that currently have difficulties finding workers, such as the hotel industry, transport and, especially, construction, to be able to hire foreign labor without having to obtain authorization from other ministries, more specifically the one commanded by the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz.
To do this, it will relax the requirements that are demanded to regularize the situation of immigrants living in the country illegally and grant them a work permit, in exchange for training courses with fewer hours, which can be done on weekends and even do online.
His department has been battling for months with the Ministry of Labor and the unions to obtain their approval to bring from other foreign countries that can cover the personnel deficit that is being registered in the construction, which will need around half a million workers now that European funds are beginning to be implemented. However, his proposal to include some thirty professions related to this activity (plasterers, crane operators, formwork workers, plumbers, electricians…) in the catalog of occupations that are difficult to cover is paralyzed due to Díaz’s refusal to approve it, supported by the unions under the argument that there are almost three million unemployed who could fill those positions.
However, Escrivá does not need Díaz’s permission or agreement at the social dialogue table to modify the requirements that are demanded to access the arraigo by training. In fact, it already has prepared an instruction that it will publish soon, which will make this figure more flexible, which was launched last July with the reform of the immigration regulations and for which throughout this Wednesday it has also obtained the support of the Minister of Labor and UGT.
Inspired by the German model, it grants a residence permit for a period of twelve months to foreigners who have remained in Spain continuously for a minimum of two years if they agree to carry out regulated training for employment that enables them to practice a specific profession. This authorization can be extended for another 12 months if the course lasts more than one year. At the end of the training, if they have a contract, they receive a work permit for another two years.
However, until now a minimum of 200 hours of training is required to access the labor market, a time that the ministry has realized is excessive since it involves six hours a day and few can dedicate that much time. In addition, it had to be in person, which made access even more difficult, according to what sources from the department explained to this newspaper.
For this reason, and in response to the requests of the organizations and NGOs that work with immigrants, the new instruction that the ministry presented to the unions and employers this Wednesday significantly reduces the number of hours and even eliminates the requirement for a minimum, allowing courses to be taken online and on weekends, to make it easier to combine them with a job and reconcile.
12,000 foreigners have benefited
«After six months of operation, the organizations have let us know that unfortunately there are people, especially women, who find it very difficult to take such long courses in person. I think the first instruction was too rigid,” Escrivá acknowledged on Wednesday, specifying that in this half year 22,000 petitions have been received and 12,000 have been granted, but only 30% are women.
After the announcement of this news, the second vice president, like the unions, positioned themselves in favor of this measure, although not of bringing foreigners from other countries. “From the Ministry of Labor, the second vice presidency, if we were talking about a regularization of the thousands of irregular workers that we have in Spain, they will certainly have our consent,” said Díaz, who specified that “here” does not have “There is no doubt, because they are workers who are already in our country and who are irregular.” In any case, she pointed out that in the face of the problems of workers in “some production sectors” the solution is “improving working conditions” in it.
The CEOE also welcomes this path so that immigrants can regularize their situation. “It would be good for the sector, for the immigrant and for the fight against the underground economy,” said Pedro Fernández Alén, president of the National Construction Confederation (CNC). The also vice president of Cepyme expressed his concern because there are many vacancies under construction and warned that the training itineraries are “extremely long”, so that more than 600 hours are required for a painting course, 900 hours to be an electrician. “Now this training is articulated in smaller modules, so that by taking courses of 30 or 60 hours they can already join the labor market,” he applauded.
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