various guilds have expressed their reservations and concern about the effects that the labor reform that the National Government filed in Congress of the Republic, since some proposals that were included are considered controversial.
(See: Labor reform: this is how “reinforced labor stability” would work).
Andi’s president, Bruce MacMaster, He stated that the bill did not include some proposals that solved the concerns that the businessmen had raised during the four months of talks and that were in the draft they had last Monday.
“The final version differs in several very sensitive points for us from what was seen on Monday. The Government had the power to do so, but that leads to the concertation being in fewer points than we had originally seen”, he added.
One of them was the possibility of to implement the provisions of the labor reform to the extent that to generate more economic activity in the country.
(See: He agreed with him: Petro spoke about Uribe’s criticism of the labor reform).
The union leader also stated that an important concern is the higher costs that may eventually be generated, some inflexibilities that are being generated and the impositions of outsourcing.
“We are convinced that we have to give SMEs and micro-enterprises the opportunity to be able to sell products to large companies. If large companies are forced to produce everything they need or contract everything directly, a large number of SMEs and small and medium-sized companies will disappear“, he asserted.
Labour reform.
To its turn, Javier Díaz Molina, the president of the National Association of Foreign Trade (Analdex) He said that for the foreign trade sector it is important to have job stability, but also the reform must adapt to what international business demands.
According to Díaz, for the foreign trade sector it is key to have other options, depending on the moment and the opportunity. That is to say, “not allowing contracts for short periods, days or hours is a mistakehe explained.
(See: How much would costs rise for a company with the labor reform).
In the case of Phenalco, andhe union of merchants and businessmen in the country, points out that the project was not really agreed upon despite their participation in the different technical tables, but only some articles, of the almost 80 contained in the project, were agreed by the parts.
Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the association, stated that “the project leaves out 2 out of every 3 Colombians that make up the economically active population”.
Also, Fenalco draws attention to rising costs that it implies for merchants regarding personal recruitment. For them it would imply an increase of between 30 to 35 percent.
In this same sense, the union highlights that the labor reform project penalizes trade and service activities that take place at night and destroy productive strategies 24 hours.
According to their calculations, they indicate that unemployment with these measures could increase between 4.2 to 5.7 percentage points, reaching 5 million Colombians without work.
Others concerned about the generation of employment, the reduction of working hours and the payment of Sundays are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Rosmery Quintero the president Acopi, He pointed out that the business sector would feel a very big impact with the increase in the value of Sundays and holidays worked, which would go from 75 to 100 percent.
(See: These are the changes of the labor reform established in Congress).
“For example, we are concerned about the increased stability for mothers who are heads of household, the apprenticeship contract, there are other issues. We are going to have to review the situations, to insist that these issues be given a gradualness, because it is complex to do it immediately”, highlighted the union leader.
Francisco Maltés, president of the Unitary Confederation of Workers (CUT), He said that the reform does bring together key points of the agreement between employers and workers.
Álvaro Velasco, a representative of the non-unionized rappitandenderos, said that many do not seek “be obliged to work with a single application and less under a labor contracting regimehe”.
WEATHER – ECONOMY AND BUSINESS
