The Left Bloc urgently wants to hear from the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security in the Assembly of the Republic about the changes that the Government wants to make in unemployment benefits.
In a request addressed to the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Social Security and Inclusion, Eurico Brilhante Dias, the blockers are asking for an urgent hearing with Minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho to discuss what they consider to be the “contradictory” positions of the Government in recent days regarding the issue of social support for unemployment.
The blockers criticize, in addition to the contradiction within the Government, a position adopted by the executive that compromises the protection of the “unemployed” and which, they claim, was adopted in recent days by the Minister of Labor and the Prime Minister .
“It is important to clarify the statements of the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security and the subsequent statements of the Prime Minister.because they are contradictory, but also because they lead to greater lack of protection for people who are unemployed,” the Left Bloc highlights in the lawsuit.
BE refers to the statements of Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho regarding You cannot “have people in Portugal earning more through unemployment benefits than if they were working” and it is necessary to “avoid situations in Portugal in which those who do not really work have income provided by the State that favors the situation of staying as they are instead of actively looking for a job and working.”
In turn, the Prime Minister, in the biweekly debate, stated that The Minister of Labour’s words were not in the sense of “the devaluation of unemployment benefits”, but rather concern “for a set of other benefits” such as unemployment benefits.
In this petition, the Left Bloc also recalls that the Confederation of Trade and Services of Portugal, after a meeting with the Minister of Labour, stated that the social consultation is discussing the application of “more effective criteria in terms of what is considered appropriate employment.”
“These statements by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, with the support of the Confederation of Commerce and Services of Portugal, are contradictory,” criticize the blockers.
“If in a case we talk about a contributory benefit – in which workers deduct a percentage of their salary, to later guarantee them a social right, to which they contributed -, In the case of unemployment benefits, we are talking about a non-contributory benefit. and which, on average, is set at 397 euros,” they add.
For the party, “whatever the change, it will imply a profound change” in the rules currently in force “particularly with regard to the concept of suitable employment and the possibility of combining work income with social benefits.”
Source: Observadora
