The finance secretary of the Single Union of Construction and Similar Workers (Suntracs) and representative of the negotiating team of the CAPAC-Suntracs Collective Agreement, Yamir Córdoba, reacted to the statement issued by the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA), where They requested to maintain the dialogue and avoid the strike, and assured that the union that does not want to go on strike, but that it negotiate seriously and with real proposals.
La Spia had asked both Capac and Suntracs to reach a consensus that benefits both parties, but according to Córdoba, “businessmen do not want to give in and have put derisory proposals on the table”, with which “it is not even enough to buy a box of matches a year” with the 2-cent increase they have proposed.
“Suntracs is open to dialogue, before, during and after the strike, we welcome the call to reach an agreement, which is that the workers are not going to give up our constitutional right, which is to strike” , he said, assuring that they continue at the negotiating table.
He assured that the salary adjustment request is due to the indiscriminate rise in prices of both food, gasoline, and basic necessities.
He stressed that they seek to agree with employers on new salary conditions and new employment conditions for the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. He pointed out that after Capac’s refusal to improve the proposal they have been forced to present the strike declaration to the Ministry of Work and Labor Development.
On the other hand, Capac’s position remains the same, since the vice president of the union and commissioner of the negotiating table on the Suntracs-Capac Collective Agreement, Alejandro Ferrer, indicated that the proposals remain on the table and Capac has taken as references the general helper with an increase of $0.10, which is yet to be seen how it is distributed in the next four years, while Suntracs has $0.67.
Ferrer specified that there is little investment in projects. “The industry had about $1.13 billion in 2019, today we’re trying to get closer to about $700 million,” he said.
