The general secretary of the Single Union of Construction and Similar Workers (Suntracs), Saúl Méndez, sent a loud and clear message to the Panamanian Chamber of Construction (Capac), after it has not been possible to reach agreements on salary matters .
“We continue negotiating and our demand is simple: ‘we want a salary to adjust to the high cost of living, that is reasonable here and anywhere in the world. It seems that the Capac businessmen do not want to understand it, in addition to that, the statements of the Capac challenge the unity of the workers,” he said.
He added that they maintain an attitude of “scabs and trying to break the strike.” At the same time, he pointed out that “the businessmen want to get involved in the Suntracs decision; next Friday we will do a one-hour warning strike to send a message to reach agreements and we are ready for April 4.”
In Méndez’s opinion, the important thing is that Capac makes serious proposals at the table to get out of this before April 4 with the negotiation of the collective agreement, the date on which the national strike is agreed if consensus is not achieved.
“You (the Capac) want to struggle and offer misery. We workers have dignity and our dignity and that of our families will be respected. We are in a position to negotiate, but if you believe that you can influence our structures, on Friday we are going to measure forces because we are ready for April 4”, remarked the leader.
It should be noted that this Monday, the Capac issued a statement calling on its workers not to support the call for an indefinite general strike at the national level for next April 4.
The union warned its workers that during the days of stoppage of work they will not receive the corresponding salaries and clarified that at the negotiating table it has proposed “reasonable increases” in salaries in response to the current state of the industry and the economy.
They also asked them to “reflect” on the “negative effects” of a strike declaration, highlighting the need to bet on “maintaining” the jobs occupied and creating the necessary conditions for the inactivation of the industry.
This call for an indefinite general strike called by Suntracs comes after failing to reach an agreement with Capac regarding the salary increase for the 2022-2025 collective agreement.
The workers aspire to an increase of 0.70 cents per hour for the next 4 years, while Capac maintains an offer of 0.07 cents per hour for the same period.
