The national government announced this Friday the progressive incorporation of 4,000 beneficiaries of social plans to formal jobs in the gastronomic sector throughout this year, in a ceremony held at the Ministry of Social Development that was attended by national officials, businessmen of that sector and trade unionists.
The initiative, which is carried out under the premise promoted by the national government of progressively converting social plans into registered employment, aims to train holders of plans such as ‘Potenciar Trabajo’, with the aim of having them enter the formal market and will also seek consolidate, incorporate or stabilize the employment relationship of temporary employees or with job reservation, according to the agreement signed last year.
The event was attended by the host minister, Juan Zabaleta (Social Development), and his peers Claudio Moroni (Work), Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro (Interior), Matías Lammens (Tourism) and Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta (Women and Diversity); and also from the general secretary of the gastronomic guild (Uthgra), Luis Barrionuevo.
“From now on they will be seeing that every week we are going to be articulating with different sectors of Argentina to promote work,” since “the Ministry of Social Development has been generating agreement tables with different sectors,” Zabaleta said in the act that took place in the Ramón Carrillo room of that portfolio.
The State, the businessmen, the representatives of the workers and the social movements; all fundamental pieces for this new stage in which work is the key to #ReconstructionArgentina. pic.twitter.com/3yn5hlNaiu
– Juan Zabaleta (@JuanZabaletaOK) February 18, 2022
During the announcement, the five national ministers were on stage, accompanied by representatives of different union and business chambers that support the agreement, with a banner in the background that read “Argentina Unida.”
In this regard, the head of Social Development remarked: “What you see in this scenario is the table for the reconstruction of Argentina, the national State, the businessmen, the representatives of the workers, the social organizations that have a transcendental role,” and assured that “the future is with work” and this is “the social computer and the goal we have this year”.
“We are starting a new stage where we begin to end the fierce debt policy that we saw between 2015 and 2019. We want to stop being the emergency ministry to be part of the reconstruction of Argentina. The private sector is a partner of the State for the generation of employment,” he said.
“What they see in this scenario is the table for the reconstruction of Argentina, the national State, the businessmen, the representatives of the workers, the social organizations that have a transcendental role”John Zabaleta
Later, in dialogue with the Télam agency, Zabaleta thanked social organizations “which often arrive before the State to solve the problems that exist from the social point of view” and considered that “they are a fundamental part of Argentina for the work they have been doing, fundamentally in the popular economy sector.”
For his part, Moroni maintained that “the future is to help train people and help companies and incorporate them into registered work” and added: “We are going to help one of the sectors most affected by unemployment.”
“People don’t want social plans, they want work, and Argentina is indebted to all these people who have not been able to join a formal job, with rights. This can only be done when there is a development project. The main objective is to make what we are doing, promoting the development of the country. We are going to dedicate ourselves to the sectors that are most affected by unemployment,” he stressed.
For his part, providing a federal vision of generating registered employment throughout the country, De Pedro said: “We are going to continue to fulfill the will of the Government, which believes that each province has potential.”
In this sense, the head of the Interior portfolio affirmed that the State will continue “thinking about the generation of employment in every corner of Argentina”, and gave tourism as an example, which is “one of the main activities that generates decent employment , quality”.
In his turn, Lammens maintained that “this photo of five ministers is no coincidence. It has to do with ministerial teamwork and what we understand was necessary to put in place to move to the other shore. It was an objective that we had to transform social plans into decent employment. Regaining work is recovering self-esteem”.
“We have worked from the State setting the conditions for the market to develop and create jobs. We have two years ahead of us with an enormous challenge, which is to consolidate this growth in Argentina and put it on its feet,” he said.
For his part, Gómez Alcorta maintained that employment rates for women “are more difficult and it is a problem that the Government considers to be a priority because we want to grow with equality.”
Speaking to Télam, the minister said about the agreement: “The gastronomy sector aims on the one hand at youth employment and female employment. There are more women who work than men in this area, it is very feminized. And we know that those who have the hardest time finding work are young women, who are the ones who take care of housework, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the kids and that has an impact on finding work.
The agreement with the gastronomic sector was signed in October 2021 at the Uthgra headquarters, with the assistance of President Alberto Fernández, who on that occasion remarked: “We are committed to recovering production, that we start as quickly as we can to ensure that the who have a plan have a job, and formalize Argentina”.
Some of the companies that participate in this program promoted by the Government are: Tostado Café Club, Green Eat, Tea Connection, Le Pain Quotidien, Café Martínez, El Club de la Milanesa, Popular Pizzeria, Johnny B. Good, Temple Bar, Almacén de Pizzas, Juan Valdez Café and Hell’s Pizza.
In addition, the president of the Banco de la Nación Argentina, Eduardo Hecker; the president of the Association of Hotels, Restaurants, Confectioneries and Cafes (Ahrcc), Daniel Prieto; the president of the Association of Artisanal Ice Cream and Related Manufacturers (Afadhya), Gabriel Fama; the president of the Association of Owners of Pizzerias and Houses of Empanadas (Appyce), Lorena Fernández; the president of the Chamber of Restaurants, Carlos Yanelli; and the vice-president of the Federation of Club Entities of the Argentine Republic (Fedra), Rafael Miranda.
Vocational training in the tourism sector
During the event, Fedra’s representative signed an agreement, together with Lammens and Barrionuevo, with the aim of promoting professional training in the tourism, hotel and gastronomy sector, and assured that it is necessary for “the Government to continue collaborating” to promote generation of jobs.
In this sense, the representative of Uthgra celebrated the support of the State: “It is a very important reward for our sector, which in the world was the most affected”, he assured regarding the agreement and stated: “Those who are receiving plans have to understand that they have to work. They have all the tools at their disposal. This country goes out inside working.”
The work of the federations, chambers and associations will be to promote that the companies that bring together the workers participate in the programs with the idea of strengthening their relationship with the community in which they carry out their activities.
In this way, during the first 12 months of the new employment relationship, the workers will receive an incentive of $15,000paid by the National State, which the employer will deduct from the salary payable by paying the corresponding difference.
In addition, they will have access to a reduction in current employer contributions during the first year, which will be a higher percentage if a woman, transvestite, transsexual, transgender person or a person with an accredited disability is hired.
