The Reduction of the working day in Uruguay It is a topic that was put on the table for debate in public opinion but has not yet had an echo at the level of formal or parliamentary discussion. However, and after the PIT-CNT put the issue as one of the claims of the plant, in line with what is happening in various countries around the world, there were several voices that expressed their opinion for and against this labor reform that seeks to benefit workers.
“The need for reduction in working hours without reduction in salary it is the flag of the labor movement”, expressed the president of the PIT-CNT, Marcelo Abdala, during his speech at the event for the Labor Day, last Monday. For the trade unionist, the 8-hour law “is old” and the country is behind “not only in the European concert, but also in our neighboring countries of Latin America”, in reference to the law recently voted in Chili which reduced the working day from 44 to 40 hours a week, as the workers’ union claims in the local system.
“All the changes that have taken place from a technological point of view, from a work organization point of view, from the improvement of productivity allow us to have processes to reduce the working day already into the 21st century. without a reduction in salary,” he said, noting that the goal is “improve the quality of life” of workers.
The voices in favor and the nuances in the discussion
One of the first to speak out about the reduction in working hours was the former president Jose Mujica, who assured that “we must fight for a 6-hour day (work)”, and that “it is sung” that in the future there will be a decrease in the workload of Uruguayans, as anticipated in 1914 by the Italian politician Uruguayan belonging to Colorado Party (PC), Sunday Arena.
According to Mujica, the reduction in the workload “is going to come”, and it will “at least more lucid of the employer sectors themselves“, since” it is necessary to distribute because the robots do not go to the supermarket to buy “.
However, the former head of state fears that with “the pressure of such a great consumer society”, when the 6 hours of work are in force, people will choose to fill their free hours with a additional employment, and thus “would end up working more than before”. Regarding this situation, he indicated that, generally, “we ourselves step on the cable”, for which the workers must fight “for a six-hour day, but a job”, where a single source of work reach for livelihood.
also the president Luis Lacalle Pou referred to the PIT-CNT proposal, and although he considered that does not seem “adequate nor practicable”, he was also willing to discuss it. “I would have no problem discussing it,” the president acknowledged in an interview with Argentine journalist Luis Majul on El Observador radio station; although he stressed that he would do so as long as three fundamental points are considered: the Workloadthe productivity and the salary.
“Thinking about a strict reduction in the workload does not seem appropriate or practicable to me,” said Lacalle Pou. He also stated that “it depends on the branches of work” and considered that certain specific items should be taken into account. In this sense, he exemplified dairy farms, where the work cycles are more “rigid” than in other areas and pointed out that there it can be “very difficult” to choose how long “more or less” you can work.
In a similar vein, the Minister of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), Pablo Mieres, when, after the act of the PIT-CNT, he considered that the reduction of the working day “today is not on the table”, although “in the collective negotiations there may be sectors that can advance in that”.
For his part, the mayor of cannelloni and first candidate for Broad Front, Yamandú Orsi, He had referred to the subject prior to Marcelo Abdala. For the referent of Popular Participation Movement (MPP)the discussion should take place in Uruguay, but after paying off outstanding debts in the labor sphere of the country, such as the improvement in wages and employment.
The rejection of the business sector
The position of the business sector is less flexible than that of the government, as they understand that the reduction of working hours “It is not an appropriate proposal for Uruguay today”as pointed out by the president of the Confederation of Business Chambers, Diego O’Neill.
In this sense, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Services of Uruguay, Julius Caesar Lestido, that, in dialogue with El País, he considered that the conditions are not met, and that the measures could not be “matched” for all activities.
Likewise, and in the midst of a situation that they consider to be more worrisome and urgent for the sector, such as the exchange rate gap with Argentina, The employers consider that the reduction of the working day, from the industrial point of view, is a “measure that further complicates the competitiveness”, which today “is not good and worsened by the exchange rate.” This was the opinion of the vice president of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU), Gabriel Murarafor whom this type of reform “will undoubtedly affect employment more.”
Murara also maintained that there would be a rise in the “labor cost” since the country would not have “that culture of increasing productivity” in the same percentage. In addition, he remarked that today the “conditions to carry out the test” to see if it works are not given. “We are raising an issue that is outside the context of the reality that the country is experiencing,” she assured, in line with what the sector seems to think.
Source: Ambito
