ICBF employees in Neiva denounce three months without receiving payment

More than 90 workers from the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) in Huila, Among human talent professionals, assistants and coordinators, they complete three months without receiving a salary. Tired of broken promises, this group of employees decided to hold an indefinite sit-in in front of the regional headquarters in Neiva, demanding concrete answers and immediate solutions.

The protesters belong to the institutional children’s homes of the ICBF, a program that serves hundreds of boys and girls in vulnerable situations throughout the department; However, while they continue working to guarantee food, initial education and psychosocial support to the minors, they themselves They face an unsustainable economic situation.

“We are more than 98 employees who signed a contract that was given, which ended andl September 30 with the Black Community Community Council, an operator who comes from Chocó and who signed a contract with the ICBF from February to September 30. Actually, until September 30, they were with this contract because the ICBF did not make an addition,” said Yessica Valencia Suárez, director of one of the eight affected children’s homes.

Read here: Santander pays tribute to the 134 years of service of the National Police

The drama of these workerss began more than three months ago, when payments were suspended due to administrative problems between the contracted operators and the ICBF. As the protesters explained, the operators, private entities in charge of executing the care agreements, have not received the corresponding disbursements.

“We know that although we did not sign the contract directly with the ICBF, This is a supportive employer since the operator signs a contract with the ICBF and the human talent signs a contract with the operator. According to the operator, the response it gives us is that the cancellation of these payments has not been made because the ICBF has not made the disbursement of the money and the ICBF responds that it has not made that disbursement. because they have pending requirements with them”, Suarez added.

Despite the difficult situation, the workers assure that they have not abandoned their duties. They have continued to attend children’s homes out of commitment to children, although they recognize that the situation is becoming increasingly unsustainable.

The sit-in in front of the ICBF headquarters in Neiva began on Tuesday and will continue today indefinitely until there is a formal response from regional management and operators.

You may be interested in: On November 11, the first batch of electric cars will arrive in Cartagena

“More or less to those of us who have administrative positions, whatever the month of September is and the settlement more or less is approximately 7 million pesos, also to human talent, master gardenerss 5 million, general services and we have more than 95, 98 employees”, Suárez pointed out.

With this protest, ICBF employees in Neiva send a strong message: without decent conditions for those who care for children, there can be no real family well-being. Institutional silence, they say, only aggravates the crisis and puts one of the country’s most important social programs at risk.