Employment minister Iago Negueruela.

Employment minister Iago Negueruela. | J. TORRES

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma26/10/2015 00:00
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Much was made of the big crackdown in the Balearics on worker exploitation and fraudulent contracts this summer and of the involvement of inspectors brought in from the mainland. As a result of this campaign, which lasted between 17 August and 30 September, 2,444 such contracts were detected over the summer.

A total of 31 inspectors were involved in the campaign, and 8,008 temporary work contracts were investigated, of which 1,987 were found to have contravened the law and were made permanent. Of 4,006 part-time contracts, 11% of these were found to have masked longer working hours, and so 457 were turned into full-time working contracts.

The regional government believes that one of the greatest benefits of the campaign was that many contracts were changed because it was known that it was happening. Between July and September, 12,800 contracts were either upgraded from part-time to full-time or made permanent. This was an increase of almost 45% over last year, i.e. an increase of more than 4,000. In previous summers, such upgrading has been significantly lower and had typically not exceeded 15%.

The minister for employment, Iago Negueruela, has stressed that the government is targeting fraudulent and insecure work contracts, something which had been “permitted” by labour reform.

No information has been disclosed as to the size of businesses that were investigated or sectors in which they operate, but there were in all 1,335 specific visits made, a great number of them in the evening or during the night. 92 proceedings have so far been initiated, with fines from these expected to amount to some 350,000 euros.