ç Despite the fact that this afternoon the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, after several hours of meeting, announced that tomorrow he would turn himself in in order to proceed to the Manuel Amador Guerrero hospital, in the province of Colón, the leader of the Unity Coalition for Colón (CUCO), Edgardo Voitier, refused to sign the agreement to end the strike.
According to Voitier, he must meet with the bases to decide if they accept the agreements that would put an end to the strike in the province of Colón, which is already 19 days old.
“The Coalition did not commit to signing any agreement, first, because we are not authorized, and second, that it did not come here with that condition, then it would be time for the CUCO Assembly to meet and decide whether or not to continue with the strike,” Voitier said. by assuring that they have already signed an agreement with the Government, businessmen and the University of Panama, but they have not seen its results.
The leader reiterated that they need timely responses in labor matters, they also ask that the freezing of the price of gasoline not only benefit the transportation sector but the population in general.
For his part, the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, reiterated that in any part of the country where there is a problem, dialogue is appropriate.
“Where there is a problem, let’s sit down, I am an accessible president,” he said when announcing the start of construction of the new Manuel Amador Guerrero Hospital.
The meeting, in which teaching unions also participated, sought to find consensus regarding the lack of employment in Colón, the rise in fuel and the basic food basket, improvements in the health system and other concerns that afflict the colonenses.
In this sense, the meeting yielded some results, since the Association of Teachers of Panama, the Association of Educators of Veragüenses and the Association of Teachers’ Associations of the Republic of Panama did sign the agreement to end the work stoppage, so they should return to the classrooms starting tomorrow.
