What is an ERE and why are they making so much noise in Andalucía?

ANDALUCÍA  Followers of our new 'Today's Headlines' daily feature may have noticed that there is an increasing mention of news with the letters ERE (Expedientes de Regulación de Empleo, or Employment Regulation Files, i.e. unemployment notices). These refer to one of several scandals and upheavals to hit the Junta de Andalucía of late. Apparently, members of the Junta, close to the top, knew of some irregular 'pensions' to people who either never worked where they were receiving them from, or simply never existed; of course, it's not as simple as that. Our readers will forgive us if we can't be more enlightening at present, but things have moved faster than we have been able to keep up with - or at any rate, faster than we have been able to decipher the endless initials being sprayed about like spilled alphabet soup. In any case, the whole thing has resulted in>top level resignations and caused a split at the very top of the PSOE party in power, not to mention a great deal of embarrassment to Manuel Chaves, the former President of Andalucía and present Third V-P in the central government as well as a minister, and his successor, José Antonio Griñán. These two are reportedly hardly speaking to each other. But then, Chaves is dealing with further embarrassment about some allegedly shady dealings by his son (see item somewhere around CampoPulse), and Griñán is having a tug of war with the judiciary about handing over the minutes of Junta Cabinet meetings, so the judge can do what we're trying to do: elucidate on the ERE scandal that threatens an already seriously damaged PSOE, just before the May 22 local elections.