The labor conflict in May had a “significant increase” compared with the previous month and with the previous year, says the latest report prepared by the Department of Organizational Studies of the Catholic University of Uruguay (UCU).
According to the study, the labor conflict last month “multiplied by more than three in relation to April 2021 and by more than five in relation to May 2021”. However, “we started from comparison levels with very low records of conflict; looked at in perspective the levels of conflict are not high”, adds the report.
Capture labor conflict report (UCU)
Labor unrest index and global monthly unrest index
In May, 12 conflicts “with interruption of activities” were registered in which 57,235 workers were involved and for which 39,274 working days were lost. In turn, mobilizations were verified that did not involve dependent workers and therefore were not registered.
Construction, the branch with “greatest conflict”
Construction was the sector “with the greatest conflict” with 56% of the total, due to the death of a worker in that branch as a result of an occupational accident.
Capture labor conflict report (UCU)
Conflict by branches in May 2022
Under, followed by public education with 14%, “where a strike by high school teachers in Montevideo stood out, who occupied the Dámaso high school for a few hours, for an assembly to discuss accountability, educational reform and union persecution. There was also a strike at the Delta del Tigre high school demanding greater security measures in the face of the increase in violence,” the report deepens.
Services was positioned in third place, with 12%.
“Better working conditions”, the biggest claim
The greatest cause that explains the labor conflict was due to “better working conditions” (56%) and this is closely linked to the episode suffered by the construction worker in which he lost his life.
The category “others” was in second place, with 24%, and that included “the strike of education already mentioned, with multiple claims, and a strike of the officials of the Municipality of Montevideo who held a general assembly of memory and balance 2021”.
Capture labor conflict report (UCU)
Conflict due to causes in May 2022
For “employment” strikes were carried out in Montecon and throughout the port (some punctual in the interior of the country and in warehouses and others from the entire sector), “by the reduction of workers and minimum working hours in Montecon and stoppages in private banking for the layoffs announced at Citi”, the report deepens.
In “union recognition” the strikes of Los Sorchantes and the Mesa del Pan were recorded “in rejection of sanctions by leaders, a conflict that was resolved after negotiating and lifting them, and the Riogas conflict over sanctions against a group of workers after that they adopt measures for a dismissal”.
According to the analysis, conflict over workers’ wages reached 2%.
projections
“Everything suggests that the conflict will increase in the coming months,” warns the report.
According to the analysis, this is due to “it is frequent that between June and August, when the Rendering of Accounts is presented and discussed, the conflict increases due to strikes in the public sector demanding a larger budget.” In this sense, emphasis is placed on the health, education and construction sectors.
