There is no support for downtime – there are layoffs and others don’t go back to work themselves.

Employees will be fired

Dalia Matukienė, president of the Council of Small and Medium Enterprises, says that the interrupted support will only aggravate the situation for entrepreneurs. According to her, the layoffs will begin.

“In the regions, the turnover of companies that can only serve with opportunity passports has been reduced by more than 50 percent. Some close, stop activities. Those who are self-employed and have company certificates with which they provide services request the Service of Employment ”, he points out.

“Maybe the people who worked will go to manufacturing companies that are doing well, maybe they will go to the Employment Service and receive a subsidy for those nine months and they will be dependent on the state. Today it is very difficult to predict anything, ”adds a representative of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs.

D. Matukienė believes that the solution would be to abolish passports of opportunity.

“In our eyes, it would be wise to revoke passports of opportunity, which are just a wreck for the entire business and economy, and introduce the necessary temperature measurement. By complying with all hygiene issues, we would slow the growth of cases ”, says D. Matukienė.

According to her, without the abolition of passports of opportunity, allowances for downtime should remain.

“If the passport is not canceled and we want to keep the employees, then the downtime must be announced and paid for. I don’t know if the state has that much money,” says the interlocutor.

Know cases of abuse

Sigitas Besagirskas, president of the Vilnius Business and Industry Association (VPVA), said there were also companies in the ranks of his association that announced partial downtime. However, he notes that they now have orders, so there is no question that they will survive. He adds that he has heard many cases of abuse, so the end of the subsidies is to be appreciated.

“The support: ending subsidies would be healthy enough, because I see that there has been a lot of abuse and even parasitism in all of that. As a result, the more the public debt actually increased, the more I had to borrow. Every Lithuanian citizen will have to pay for this. I think it is time to end this game with benefits, compensation. I think it is a good step and there is no need to continue it in the future “, comments S. Besagirskas.

It adds that the principle of aid distribution was fundamentally inappropriate.

“It was an emergency, so it was logical that I needed help, but I did not like the very principle that everyone was paid. I have repeatedly advocated being paid, depending on the amount of tax that was paid. For example, if a company has paid any amount of GPM, then half of your company can receive compensation.

Now there were many companies that paid in envelopes or otherwise, paid almost no taxes and received a sufficiently high compensation. And those who paid were made small because supposedly they suffered less. That beginning was not the best, so I think the ending is in place and time, ”says S. Besagirskas.

Employees do not return after downtime

Evalda Šiškauskienė, president of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, notes that employees do not return to work after a period of inactivity.

“Nobody stops them, they shut them down and they keep going to OCTs and making a profit again. It’s a vicious cycle, “he says.

The interlocutor points out that talks are planned with the Government to prepare an additional package of grants for business hotels. As you know, the foreigners did not come anyway.

“It seems that I will not come next year either. You have to think about how to survive the winter. Because public services, everything becomes more expensive, in the absence of foreign tourists, it is extremely difficult for hotels in the city to survive,” he says E. Šiškauskienė.

According to data from the Employment Service, the highest number of grant applications was received from companies engaged in the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles: 32.4%. companies, manufacturing – 10.1 percent, lodging and food service activities – 13.7 percent, manufacturing – 8.9 percent, professional, scientific and technical activities – 6.6 percent, transportation and storage – 6 , 0 percent.

From the start of the quarantine in 2020. until August 31 of this year. The wage subsidy paid in 2006 amounts to LTL 517.9 million. euros. 31.5 thousand people used this support. employers for 390.3 thousand. workers in downtime.