The president of the PIT-CNT said that it is the most important labor law of the century and that it responds to technological changes, so its rejection is not justified.
The president of the PIT-CNT, Marcelo Abdala, challenged the political parties of Uruguay to vote on the law to reduce the working week to 40 hours —which began to be discussed in the Labor Affairs Commission of the Senate, but that will be paused by the Accountability debate—, which he described as “the most important labor law of this 21st century.”
During the central act of the partial strike —which took place between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., and also included a mobilization through the center of Montevideo- on the street Cologne, in front of Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF)Abdala considered that “any good person, who does not have to share the ideology of the working class, and who analyzes the changes in technology and artificial intelligence, How can they justify being against”.
The comment was rather a challenge to the legislators and other politicians who have in their hands the bill that progressively reduces the working day from the current 48-hour week to 40 hours; which was introduced in Parliament by the broad front, in the context of the broad debate that began to take place both nationally and internationally.
“We want it to become law, like the most important labor law of this 21st century”, said Abdala, and assured that it proposes “earning life, family time, recreation, training, study, sports, and gender equality, it is a law to improve the life of Uruguayans on a large scale ”.
A new critique of the social security reform
Abdala also referred once more to the social security reform approved by the government, whose first provisions came into force as of this month, and questioned it harshly, also pointing it out as an initiative “antagonistic to the proposal to reduce the work week to 40 hours with 48-hour pay.”
“Reform is the most brutal form of adjustment to the rights and income of the vast majority of working people,” he said, adding that “it was a hidden tax adjustment that put the working class as the only one that pays the piper”.
In this regard, the President of the PIT-CNT vindicated the decision to refer to the reform of the pension system through a referendum in conjunction with the upcoming national elections in October 2024, a decision that was recently voted in the Congress of the trade union.
Source: Ambito
