Santo Domingo.–Government, employers and workers agreed this Tuesday on the need to approve a new Labor Code, however, the issue of unemployment continues to be presented as a breach of the consensus achieved between the parties.
During a forum on Labor Reform in the Dominican Republic, held by the School of Law of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) together with two other institutions, César Dargam, executive vice president of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), and Laura Peña Izquierdo, president of the Employers’ Confederation of the Dominican Republic (COPARDOM), highlighted that in the case of unemployment, “we do not intend to ignore rights, nor is it the intention to eliminate it,” but advocates continuing the discussions.
“We plan to explore and be able to consider different modalities that allow us to bring greater certainty to the worker, but also greater certainty to the company,” said Dargam.
While Rafael “Pepe” Abreu, president of the National Confederation of Trade Union Unity (CNUS), insisted that the project be approved as it is. “…Out of good manners and education, we go to a process (a space) like this, but always keeping in mind that the discussion of the labor reform concluded with the possible agreement, which was submitted to Congress and which we hope will ultimately be approved.” ”.
Faced with these positions, the Minister of Labor, Luis Miguel de Camps, highlighted that it would be “irresponsible” to return the piece to a kind of paralysis and advocated that the proposal be complemented in the future.
“We are in a possible turning point situation. As Dominicans we must ask ourselves the question… If what is proposed is positive in balance and specifically, does it not prevent other things from being built later? Let’s move forward, it would really be counterproductive for the country to go back,” he said.
Milton Ray Guevara, former president of the Constitutional Court, expressed himself in the same vein: “Let’s move forward, gentlemen, this country needs that. We need this agreement to be supported here, which has already been achieved, and if there is a single point on which there is divergence, give yourself a period of one year to find a solution.”
Secilio Espinal, rector of the PUCMM, recalled the social commitment of this academy in promoting events that promote the discussion of national issues, “fostering agreements and respecting disagreements… Dialogue and the search for the common good are the path to progress and well-being of our country,” said the rector.
In the Dominican Labor Code, article 80 establishes that “the employer who carries out the eviction must pay the worker unemployment benefits”, the amount of which is set by the same law and which, in extreme cases, indicates that an employee with more than five years must receive the equivalent of 23 days of ordinary salary, for each year of service provided. This article was not touched on in the proposal submitted to the National Congress.
In addition to Milton Ray Guevara, at the close of the presentations an analysis panel was presented along with four other labor experts: Rafael Alburquerque, former vice president of the Dominican Republic, and labor law lawyers Tomás Hernández Metz, Rosalina Trueba and Javier A. Suárez A.
In addition to the PUCMM, this forum was promoted by the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic (ACRD) and the Dominican Association of Labor and Social Security Law (ADTSS), whose presidents, Manuel Ramón Herrera Carbuccia and Héctor Arias Bustamante, respectively , agreed on the importance of this labor reform and of creating spaces for discussion like this forum, on issues of impact on national life.
