Restaurants may be faced with the prospect of closing for good. | Efe

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The restaurants association within the CAEB Confederation of Balearic Business Associations is forecasting a 30% permanent closure of Majorca's bars and restaurants because of the Covid-19 crisis.

On Tuesday, association representatives met the director-general of employment, Virginia Abraham, and the director of the Balearic health and safety institute, Rúben Castro, and called for there to be an extension of the ERTE furlough scheme until the end of December. Consideration, the association insisted, has to be given to "the subsistence of small business owners in order to maintain the employment of all their workers".

The association raised the issue of contracts for temporary and "fijo discontinuo" workers, something which is causing owners in the hospitality industry to have sleepless nights. "The maintenance of employment and the guarantee of employment for the six monthly payments is unsustainable for many small to medium-sized businesses." For this reason, the association argues, bars and restaurants could decide to close for good in September or October.