With the slogan “Cooperatives build a better world”, the 100th edition of the International Day of Cooperatives was celebrated on Saturday 2, in Tacuarembó, the national capital of this matter in 2022.
There, the Government announced that it is studying incorporating a cooperative vision into collective bargaining, considering the 10% growth of this sector in terms of employment and that it already has 25,000 direct jobs.
The activity took place in the new Cooperativism Plaza, located on Rodríguez Correa Boulevard, between Wilson Ferreira and Líber Seregni, in the city of Tacuarembó. The secretary of the Presidency of the Republic, Álvaro Delgado; the mayor of Tacuarembo, Wilson Ezquerra; the president of the National Institute of Cooperativism (Inacoop), Martín Fernández; the president of the Uruguayan Confederation of Cooperative Entities (Cudecoop), Alicia Maneiro; and the representative of the Intercooperative Table of Tacuarembó, María Pastorini.
In his speech, Delgado highlighted the work of recent years regarding cooperative institutions and said that in 2022 the funds for the education and training of cooperatives in the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (Inefop) will be doubled with some 18 million pesos.
He added that the Government carried out actions that include these institutions, such as the formation of teams of social and work cooperatives, to make connections to the UTE energy network in vulnerable homes. In addition, he mentioned the strengthening of cooperative organizations through the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) and Inacoop, and the presentation of a bill in Parliament by the Executive Power to provide a gender perspective to the cooperative framework law No. 18,407.
He also recalled that Uruguay is one of the most cooperative countries in Latin America, with more than 1 million people linked in some way to the cooperative movement.
The president of Inacoop, meanwhile, highlighted the validity of the principles and actions of cooperatives in Uruguay. Fernández explained that, thanks to Law No. 18,407, the actions of that institute are a State policy aimed at building a better future.
