To date, Czech companies have used 14 billion crowns from the Antivirus program, which has helped maintain jobs for 1.39 million employees. This was stated by Jan Wiesner, chairman of the Confederation of Employees’ and Business Associations, after the tripartite meeting. Representatives of employers and trade unions want the government to extend the programs at least until the end of this year. They supported the government’s proposal to increase the state budget deficit to half a trillion crowns.
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“This program has been very good at maintaining employment as such. We have advice that the programs need to be extended at least until the end of the year and adjustments are made somewhere. We support an adjustment of the budget to EUR 500 billion, because that is linked to all the measures that need to be taken so that the economy can grow, ‘explained Wiesner.
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“There have been increased incidence in the Czech Republic in recent days, the disease can be expected to continue, employers should be sure that they will be able to continue to draw on this program,” added Josef Středula, chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions.
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According to Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (for YES), the government is considering extending Antivirus. “If the situation is such that companies will use the program en masse, we are ready to do so,” he said.
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At the same time, Středula pointed out that the state should supervise who it helps with the Antivirus program, because trade unions have reportedly recorded cases of its abuse. “Antivirus is a program that has protected the Czech Republic from mass redundancies. We have noted that one company in the Pilsen region is due to layoffs. However, the employer wants to keep agency employees from Ukraine and the Philippines and lay off Czech employees with permanent employment. We think that’s bad. First of all, those in permanent employment should be protected, not agency employees, “said Středula.
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It is said to be a multinational company. According to Středula, another company tried to abuse the Antivirus program by letting employees work at homeoffices for 100 percent performance, but it showed them an obstacle at work and tried to draw on the Antivirus program.
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“At the same time, we must be careful not to supply funds to companies registered in tax havens,” the trade union chief added.
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The government has already launched the Covid III and Covid plus programs for large and medium-sized companies. Minister Havlíček stated that he also wants to include companies in the field of transport and tourism in Covid Plus, which have not been able to apply for state aid in any of the programs so far. This would solve the issue of state aid for the air carrier Smartwings, which Havlíček advocates, but his colleagues from the government are not very sympathetic to it.
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Companies from the transport and tourism sector will be able to use the guarantees in the COVID Plus program. We are thus comparing market conditions where these companies have not been able to use this form of support. Today, the government unanimously approved, thus fulfilling the recommendations of the Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Committee. pic.twitter.com/BVDaGCupJ1
– Karel Havlicek (@KarelHavlicek_) June 29, 2020
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“It would settle the whole thing and it would depend on how each of the given companies handles it all. We will compare the conditions and anyone will be able to draw. I think it’s a fair solution, “he added.
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His proposal has already been approved by the government, as the minister informed on Twitter.
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