Integration of farmers in the General System of Social Security

The text approved the Senate responds to a historical claim, equates the rights and benefits of agricultural workers with other workers as employees integration as an incentive for development and job creation in the agricultural sector.

Establishing a transitional period of twenty years not to harm the competitiveness of farms.

On 15 September 2011, the Plenary of the Senate approved the bill by which employees Special Agricultural Scheme will be integrated into the General Scheme of the Social Security and the measure will affect more than 800,000 workers as employees.

The Senate approved the text as it was out of Congress, which will be sent directly to the State Gazette for publication in the coming days.

The Act will come into force on 1 January 2012, and it establishes a transitional period from 2013 to 2031 to allow a gradual equalization contributions and harmful to the General Regime, which does not harm the competitiveness of farms.

The integration of employees of the agricultural sector in the general scheme of Social Security is a historical claim of this group and the organizations that represent them. The normative text equates Social Security benefits received by workers in the field with the rest of the workers as employees.

The law follows the guidelines of the agreement signed on March 8 by the Government, CCOO, UGT, CEOE and sectoral organizations and Cepyme Federation Agrifood CCOO, FTA-UGT, Asaja, Fepex and Citrus Management Committee, in compliance agreements of July 13, 2006 and February 2, 2011 signed in the framework of social dialogue. It also represents a step forward in the mandate of the Toledo Pact integration schemes of the Social Security system into two main groups, the employed persons in the General Scheme and the self-employed within the Scheme Special Self-Employed (Reta) which now has been carried out and are integrated equalization contributions gradually.

The Integration Act states:

"They integrate workers employed Special Agricultural Scheme of the Social Security and employers who provide their services also included in this latest regime.
"It is considered as such exercised agricultural tasks, whether actual agricultural, forestry or livestock or are complementary or ancillary in the same farms
"Workers will be included during both periods to carry out agricultural tasks such as during periods of inactivity, provided that a minimum of 30 actual days in a continuous period of 365 days. Established the circumstances in which these workers during the periods of inactivity can be excluded as refund.
"In response to the peculiarity of work in the field there is a special term for submission of applications high when workers can not be done before the start of the services, so the employer can enlist up to 12-hour home delivery.
"System contribution. Disappear contribution bases priced and traded in accordance with the wages paid.
"We distinguish between periods of activity, in which the contribution base, both monthly and daily shall be determined as in the General Scheme and periods of inactivity, which, according to the formula determined by law, workers quoted by the minimum base 7 group (the group lowest monthly contribution) in force at the time.
"Understood downtime in a calendar month, when the actual number of days taken is less than 76.67 percent of the days in which the worker appears in the system including special this month.
"It establishes the possibility that agricultural workers as employees hired part-time listed in proportion to the working hours make.
"Establishing the ability to upgrade every three years the price reductions set out in the draft law by future laws of the State Budget, depending on the evolution of the consumer price index experienced in these periods.