He Single Telecommunications Union (Sutel) which brings together, among others, workers from Antel, filed an appeal against the merger of the three main cable operators Uruguay; while the Confederation of State Employees Organizations (COFE) is preparing to file a constitutional appeal against the new medical leave regime for public employees.
He Executive power On July 16, the three largest cable TV service providers in the country were authorized, Montecable, New Century and TCC, to merge into a consortium to operate in Montevideo and thus compete on better terms against streaming services. The resolution signed by the president Luis Lacalle Pouhowever, generated discontent among workers Antel, who understand the measure as seriously damaging to the public company.
For this reason, Sutel presented a revocation resource before the government against the authorization granted to private sector companies. “First we presented the appeal in a timely manner. Now we are working on the grounds, looking at elements of the defense of competition, of the media law,” the president of the union told El Observador. Gabriel Molina. “We consider it a serious negligence from the directory of Antel not defending the company,” the leader added.
After 180 days if the Executive does not issue a response, the union can request the annulment before the Administrative Litigation Court.
Sutel had issued a statement days ago where it stated that “more than a consortium, it is a monopoly that the current government creates to give power to these companies in the context of fierce competition against Antel”. The biggest problem pointed out by the workers is that the state telecommunications company is the only one that has optical fiber in the country, which will force it to offer its infrastructure at any price to the cable operator consortium, which in turn will be its direct competitor.
COFE seeks to declare the medical leave regime unconstitutional
For its part, COFE resolved in a national assembly to carry out a partial strike from 9 am next Wednesday, with a mobilization towards the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS).
The president of the union also Martin Pereira, He told Radio Monte Carlo that they have already drafted an appeal of unconstitutionality against the application of the new Medical leave regime for public employees Given the impossibility of reaching an agreement with the Executive Branch in this regard, and the unilateral continuation of the new regulations that are already in their second stage.
In this sense, COFE “decided not only to reaffirm everything it had been doing, the legal resources that are already running in the Administrative Litigation Court, the complaint that was filed before the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conference and also an appeal of unconstitutionality that we will soon present”; but also “to accompany with a mobilization with partial strike” on Wednesday 7th.
According to Pereira, the new regime implemented by the government “establishes a punishment for workers who get sick.” In this regard, he explained that the previous system did not contemplate a salary deduction for medical leave, but the reductions were applied to other associated items such as attendance or meeting goals.
“Now, what the Executive Branch has decided is to start deducting 25% from the worker’s salary for each day that he or she is sick, starting on the tenth day. This is a major blow to workers because this will not correct what the Executive Branch had previously stated needed to be corrected, and it will also create a great injustice because it will apply to some public workers and not to others,” said the president of COFE.
Source: Ambito
