Solidarity wage workers will begin a hunger strike in front of the Executive Tower

The measure will be as a protest “due to the lack of responses” regarding the employment situation of some 10,000 people who were included in the solidarity wage plan implemented by the government. The plan expired on December 31 and now these people are left without a source of employment.

“We have had to come to this drastic decision to start a strike. The government let go of our hand, left us waiting for an answer that never came. People need an immediate solution. There are 10,000 people without work nationwide who worked 12 days and earned $10,600”, claimed to The Observer Karina Camacho, spokesperson for this group of workers.

The last extension of the program had materialized in October of last year, after a request made by the Congress of Mayors. The measure implied a cost of $250 million, of which 75% was covered with contributions from the national government and the remaining 25% from the departmental governments.

“We are angry and sad. We thought that the national government was going to give us another opportunity, another tool. (…) President Luis Lacalle Pou has to give us an answer, a solution. A new plan is going to be created, but in May. There are people who can’t wait for tomorrow to eat, let alone wait for May. There are people who are having a bad time and are going to have a worse time,” Camacho said.