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Bars and restaurants are among the hardest hit by fresh restrictions in this second wave of Covid-19.
Local firms put in 935 ERTEs in two weeks as a result of new coronavirus restrictions

Local firms put in 935 ERTEs in two weeks as a result of new coronavirus restrictions

The CC OO union has said it is most scared of an avalanche of companies folding once the furloughing schemes end

NURIA TRIGUERO

Friday, 27 November 2020, 11:18

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Just like Covid-19, there has been a second wave of furloughing in Malaga province, including the Costa del Sol. With the restrictions imposed by the Junta de Andalucía on bars, restaurants, some shops and other non-essential services, almost 1,000 local companies had put forward ERTE applications for their employees between 10 and 23 November.

In total 935 firms applied to furlough staff, of which 864 were affected by a partial limitation of activity because of the new lockdown measures. These included those that have had to lower the shutters at 6pm. This week the Junta said it had already processed 550 of these requests from companies in this position.

The other recent category of ERTE furloughing created as a result of Covid-19 is where a firm is stopped from operating completely due to any measure adopted since 1 October by national or foreign authorities. Sixty-one local ERTE applications of this type were sent to the Junta from 10 to 23 November. Forty of these the regional government has already processed.

The exact number of staff affected by these latest ERTEs isn't clear, but latest Employment Services data available states that 27,000 people locally were still furloughed at the end of October.

"Companies in the bar and restaurant trade and retail have taken out ERTEs again in a big way," said the provincial leader of the CC OO trade union, Fernando Cubillos. "What we are really scared of is an avalanche of firms going into administration when ERTEs end," he added.

Period could be extended

For the president of the Malaga association of business leaders, Javier González de Lara, the ERTEs "take the temperature of the real situation companies are in".

He said that he hoped that they would be extended beyond 31 January, "at least until the end of the state of alarm on 31 May".

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