Years ago Spain enacted an employment plan for rural workers known commonly as el PER (Plan de Empleo Rural). It was officially known as the Acuerdo para el Empleo y la Protección Social Agraria (AEPSA) and utilized by various regional governments under several political parties: the Union of the Democratic Centre, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the People's Party.
El PER was designed to guarantee a minimum wage or work subsidies for day laborers, and it lives on in Spain. The Socialist party has always defended it, the CiU criticized it as did the People's Party, which kept it when it had the chance to reform it or eliminate it altogether.
For Andalusia, el PER has pumped 4 billion euros into its economy since 1986. Even if the measure has righted one-off issues, it has not been able to prevent fraud nor spur real, lasting change to labor and economic conditions for day workers.
The current model does not work and we must seek alternative solutions for temporary labor. This culture is so embedded that Griñán announced yesterday, as his star measure to fight unemployment, a form of the PER, also known as Plan E for the unemployed. More welfare without eradicating the root of the problem.
