President Armengol announced on Tuesday that the Spanish government is guaranteeing 382 million euros of ERTE furlough aid to the 85,000 employees in the Balearics who have 'fijo discontinuo' contracts.
Six thousand self-employed will also receive aid under the latest extension to the ERTE scheme - to the end of February 2022. The president said that these workers will therefore be protected until the next tourism season. "It is essential to protect the population over these very difficult months" - the winter, that is.
Further extension beyond February 28 isn't being ruled out. It will in fact almost certainly be the case that extension will be required - March 1 is an optimistic date for the start of the next tourism season. Iago Negueruela, minister for the economic model, tourism and employment, said that this will be looked at in due course.
The announcement was made at the latest meeting of the social dialogue table - government, business and union representatives.