The lack of consistency in the Executive, a reactivation plan that convinces, but whose execution would be unlikely with the current cabinet and the supreme decrees of union relations and labor outsourcing, are some aspects of the situation that concern Oscar Caipo. The president of the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (Confiep) talks with Peru21, and explains how the private sector perceives the behavior of the Executive Branch.
This week they met with the Minister of Economy, Kurt Burneo. Does the reactivation plan generate confidence Impulse Peru?
We see that it is a very complete plan, very specific, very clear, with three pillars: private spending, public investment and rebuilding confidence. And obviously we have told him that we appreciate him, he has even brought a sectorial approach in critical sectors and strategic sectors with great potential in the future. (…). What is a challenge is how feasible the implementation of that plan is so that it does not remain only in the proposals and there the concerns that we have transmitted is the lack of coherence that there may be in the Government and in the cabinet because the investment does not it only requires the Ministry of Economy. Although many decisions may go through the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the investment occurs in different sectors, and if these are not aligned or do not have people with the capacity or suitability, then the capacity to execute this plan it will be very limited.
So, does Impulsa Peru and the MEF generate trust, but not the rest of the cabinet?
It is right. Is not sufficient. The implementation (of the plan) depends on other ministries, often the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) or the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri). So the messages you are giving (burning) and the recognition of the importance of the private sector as the engine of economic growth is not being seen in the same way in other sectors, but also other sectors are not capable of executing and accompanying the plan (of the MEF). It is required that the appointments be of people who have capacity and integrity because otherwise we are going to see that we continue to be trapped in the same situation that we have lived through for decades, because corruption is not new.
In the meeting, did they address what is the position that he (Burneo) has on the supreme decrees of collective relations and labor outsourcing?
Yes, and it was an example of that lack of coherence (in the Executive). On the one hand, Minister Burneo is very clear, calling for confidence to be restored, but on the other hand, we see what is happening in the Ministry of Labor. It’s not that we don’t want to discuss the issues. We agree with putting all the issues raised by the Government and the workers on the agenda. The problem is that they are taking them off the agenda and directly enacting them without going through the proper dialogue. Minister Burneo is aware that the intersectoral consultations have not been carried out and that the due technical analysis and evaluation of the costs and benefits have not been carried out.
I understand you, so what Kurt Burneo has told you is that this provision should not have been made unilaterally (to approve the decrees)…
This has given us to understand that he effectively understands that this should not have been the case and has even said it publicly at a meeting of the SAE (Business Advisory Service for Consulting Support), which is analyzing the impacts because it was not done previously.
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The Labor Minister, Alexander Salas, has insisted on summoning them to the CNT, but has not said that they are going to back down with the decrees. What would you say to the minister, considering that you say that repeal would be the way to return to the CNT?
The minister wrote an article (this week) saying that the start of a new administration is an opportunity to review things. However, it seems that he is not reviewing the actions of his predecessors, which is the government’s policy on labor matters. He then pretends to invite us as if nothing had happened, as if the facts to which we allude did not exist. I think it is not very serious to think that because it calls us we are going to attend, when precisely we have suspended our participation due to the fact that the Government, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion, has consistently violated the dialogue in the National Labor Council ( CNT) and the processes to draw up regulations, which at least must be published and consulted with the different sectors (…). We are waiting for (the decrees) to be repealed and we immediately resumed it (the debate) in the National Labor Council.
The Executive proposed in the budget project for 2023 that the suspension of the rule that prohibits hiring service locators be extended. Do you think there is an inconsistency?
While you speak of precariousness in general terms, that the main reason why Supreme Decree 001-TR is being promoted is to avoid the precariousness of employment, when in reality the formal companies that acquire services do so from others that have workers on the payroll, with benefits that often exceed the legal minimum. However, they do not look at what is within the public sector: the location of services, with more than 400 thousand workers; the CAS regime, who want to extend it. Meanwhile, we are talking about 200,000 outsourcing workers. So there is a contradiction here. We have two cases in the public sector, where workers do not have the benefits of the law, they do not have labor rights, they do not have vacations, they do not have CTS. Here there is a double discourse that comes from the Government. It seems that some workers worry more than those on the other side.
DATA
–Oscar Caipo Graduated in Business Administration from Boston University, he has been a principal partner of KPMG in Peru since 2008 and is one of the founders of Entrepreneurs for Integrity and has experience in transformation and corporate governance.
-“If these supreme decrees remain without being able to review them, without being able to improve them, we are going to continue delaying the recovery of employment. The data as of June is that real income was 20% below 2019 because we are incorporating 2019 inflation,” explains Caipo.
