The National Council of Organized Workers (Conato), denounced this Wednesday, in a press conference, the “surprising and illegal” way in which the Superior Office of the Minister and Vice Minister of Labor have decided, through resolutions, to suspend the right to negotiate collective list of petitions, arbitration procedures and the declaration of strike, as well as the judicial terms on matters that the ministry decides in accordance with Law 53 of 1975.
The coordinator of Conato, Eliseo Escobar, assured that the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (Mitradel), does not have the power to regulate laws or suspend legal deadlines in administrative processes because that is the responsibility of President Laurentino Cortizo, as has been the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office and uniform judgments of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).
He mentioned that the decisions contained in Resolutions No. 008 of January 12 and its extension with Resolution No. 12 of January 26, are open attacks against the fundamental rights of workers and trade union organizations recognized in the Political Constitution and in International Conventions ratified by Panama, and represent an unusual setback in labor matters, considering that the excuse for the presence of The variants of the Covid-19 that Mitradel alleges for the interruptions of terms is false, since the Ministry of Health (Minsa) itself annulled the suspensions of all administrative processes since May 2020.
“Mitradel’s resolutions are added to absurd decisions that have tolerated the dismissal of thousands of workers and the beheading of union boards without the slightest respect for the minimum legal requirements,” said the union.
They reiterated that they remain on alert waiting for law and order to prevail, and any decision that “maintains the validity of these abuses will be interpreted as a confessed conspiracy of very particular interests to the detriment of legitimate labor rights.”
On Monday, January 31, Conato filed a lawsuit in the Judicial Branch against the Resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel) that suspends collective bargaining, arbitration and strike action.
This is Decree No. DM-012-2022 of January 25, 2022 that suspends conciliation, arbitration, strike and judicial terms in the labor instance, which enshrines Law 53 of 1975, whose rejection has also been supported by the Confederation of Workers of the Republic of Panama (CTRP).
