In Santa Cruz, 50% of the Mypes paid a Christmas bonus, the other half agreed to give the benefit in installments or in merchandise

After the time established for the payment of the Christmas bonus only 50% of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Mypes) in Santa Cruz managed to comply with this obligation on timewhile the other half negotiated to deliver this benefit in installments and in some cases agreed to deliver merchandise as payment.

This situation was reported by the president of the Departmental Federation of Micro and Small Enterprises (Fedemype) of Santa Cruz, Boris Mendoza. The leader said that several of his associates had to negotiate with his employees.

“A large part has negotiated to pay in installments, while others had already budgeted to pay this benefit. 50% have paid and the other half have negotiated, even paying in other ways (delivering merchandise). It’s usually an internal arrangement,” he said.

Mendoza added that the sector continues to be affected by the social conflicts registered in the country and specifically in Santa Cruz. He recalled that the 36-day strike in Santa Cruz affected the sector, especially the textile industry.

Due to this situation, the previous week the national leadership of the sector asked to extend the term for the payment of this benefit until March 2023.

The general secretary of the National Confederation of Micro and Small Enterprises of Bolivia, Juan Carlos Vargas, reported that even Approaches were sought with the Ministry of Economy to make this sectoral proposal effective.

However, Mendoza said that This request was not met by the Government and for this reason several microentrepreneurs decided to negotiate with collaborators.

In this context, the leader asked the Government to support the sector by stopping smuggling, especially clothing and footwear, and establishing productive fairs to encourage the consumption of products made in Bolivia.

The term for the payment of this benefit expired on December 20 and after expiring this period, the Ministry of Labor received 396 complaints from workers who did not receive this bonus.

“Until Friday, which was the last business day of last week, 396 complaints had been loaded into the systemwhich began to be counted as of Wednesday the 21st,” said Verónica Navia.

The department of La Paz is the one that concentrates the greatest number of these claims with 106 complaints, followed by Tarija with 92, Oruro with 86 and Santa Cruz with 81. The rest of the country’s regions have fewer than 12 complaints.