April 30, 2023, 4:05 AM
April 30, 2023, 4:05 AM
President Luis Arce will lead this Monday, along with the leaders of the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the parade and rally for May 1, Labor Day, in Plaza San Francisco. He arrives with a message of economic stability and will send a bill against workplace violence and harassment in the office, transportation and even at home.
The president, in Yapacaní, noted that his administration “advances” in the reconstruction of the economy, despite the adverse international context, with the war in eastern Europe; after receiving the government in 2020 with bankrupt finances.
He also referred to the division of his party, which he summarized as follows: “Sisters, brothers we continue advancing in the reconstruction of the economy with all the problems we are facing, both in our Plurinational Legislative Assembly and in the international context”.
Then he indicated that he sent to the Legislative Power, for its treatment, two public investment projects with external financing of approximately $160 million and also the gold bill, already approved in Deputies with the support of the opponents and whose treatment is advancing in the Senate.
Later, he pointed out that “regardless of whoever weighs, the economy is advancing”, and that every day the national economy improves as well as the quality of life of Bolivians.
The president stressed that Bolivia returned to the path of economic growth with a rate of 6.1% in 2021 and with 4.3% in the third quarter of 2022, after “recording in 2020 the strongest drop in economic activity not seen in 70 years.”
The Government announced that President Luis Arce will present on Monday, Labor Day, a bill to promote a workplacewhich involves transportation and private homes where their work is carried out, free of violence and harassment.
The Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, confirmed the presence of the president, Luis Arce, in the march of May 1 through the streets of downtown La Paz until reaching the concentration in Plaza San Francisco. The march is organized by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB).
“We will be there on May 1, participating with the COB in the march and at the subsequent event in San Francisco. I want to highlight that one part is the petition document that the union body delivered, but there are other commissions in which there is progress in social, health, education and standards issues, ”he said.
He announced that some laws that were worked on by the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Welfare will be presented. In fact, the president will announce the validity of three regulations, including the ratification of Convention 190 with the International Labor Organization (ILO) that recognizes the right of everyone to a world of work free of violence and harassment, reported the Minister of Labor, Veronica Navia.
“It is a draft bill that we are already processing, we have signed an agreement with the workers who are part of the commission and it came out as a result of the debate of the Standards Commission,” said the State authority.
He explained that the Executive is processing the law with the Foreign Ministry, as co-projectors, and the Head of State will announce its referral to the Legislative Assembly. ILO Convention 190 is an international labor standard that provides a common framework to prevent, remedy and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment.
He explained that the law also establishes that the workplace is not only the office, company or factory but also the transport used by the worker to reach his source of employment. Likewise, the norm recognizes private homes as work spaces.
“Homes are workplaces when there is a labor relationship with domestic workers, that will allow us to enter homes to verify the violation of human rights such as harassment,” he said.
The Minister of Labor described the ratification of ILO Convention 190 as a great advance, which will be part of the jurisprudence and will allow regulation according to the Political Constitution of the State with specific norms. Prada said that there are other commissions in which she reported that progress was made on productive issues that “are important in a process of industrialization with import substitution.”
