The deadline to present a proposal to the Executive on the measures that will be taken for the preservation of jobs and the sustainability of the economy expires in six days, and there is no consensus on complex issues.

Trade unionists fear that the modification of workers' hours will directly affect labor benefits.

Employers have stated that workers' rights will be respected.

An important point in the discussion is the possibility of making working hours more flexible until the pandemic subsides and the economy recovers.

Business unions have explained that a legal mechanism would need to be agreed to allow them to agree, for example, on new work schemes in existing contracts. Basically, allow workers to be paid based on hours worked, as has been the case up to now in the government-declared emergency period.

Yesterday important advances were made in several work tables, understanding the concern of the workers and the private sector.

At the same time, there has been talk of the need to extend the suspension of employment contracts.

Currently, more than 200,000 people have their contracts suspended, in accordance with the provisions of Executive Decree No. 81 of March 20, 2020.

The Ministry of Labor and Labor Development has reiterated that extensions of suspension of contracts can be carried out for up to four months, as the Labor Code says in the last paragraph of article 203. This means that workers can be kept in this category until July.

However, employers caution that if they cannot reintegrate their entire workforce, they would need this figure to keep as many workers as they begin to generate income.