FICE sparks social security row
12/12/2008
The president of the Spanish Footwear Industry Federation (FICE), Rafael Calvo, has called on the government to make changes to the country's tax system for employers.
He has said it is unfair for footwear manufacturers to have to pay high levels of social security payments to the government because the sector requires a large amount of labour, while companies in other sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, can make their products with far fewer people.
If the system changed to charge companies a social security payment linked to the amount of money they earn in profits, it would make life fairer and more manageable for his member companies, he said.
Mr Calvo explained: "A company with a large workforce can earn quite small profits, but is still obliged to make big social security payments to the government. The example of pharmaceutical companies shows that they could register enormous profits, but pay a substantially smaller amount in social security because they have fewer employees. We employ more workers because that's the nature of the industry we are in, but we find ourselves in a system that punishes companies that need high numbers of workers."
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