In an interview with Yamid Amat for the newspaper EL TIEMPO, Bruce Mac Master, president of the National Association of Businessmen of Colombia (Andi), expressed that, as a representative of the business sector, he would ask the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, that “we would concentrate on solving the country’s big problems“.
(See: President of Andi points out that the new tax could lead to a recession).
“Colombia, indeed, requires a national agreement, of which we want to be part. Agreements to reduce violence, that allow us to reduce the verbal violence that exists at this moment, fueled in large part by the Government itself, by such strong polarization; This stigmatization is not good for the country, it produces new gaps. Colombia has too much violence to fuel new violence“Mac Master stated.
The manager also said that he would ask Petro “an agreement that allows reforms to be processed in a consensual manner, not imposed by clientelism“, in reference to the approved pension reform and labor and health projects, among others, that different sectors have denounced that they have not been built with consultations.
“A serious agreement that is not to increase governability, but to improve coexistence“, he added.
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Gustavo Petro.
Criticisms of the labor reform
With respect to the recent approval in the second debate of the labor reform and its passage to the Senate, Mac Master asserted that the project “It contains articles that seem valuable, but that particular project was not the result of a national agreement. It is not the result of tripartite social dialogue“.
and said that They filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO), through the International Organization of Employers, “because in Colombia they are not complying with article 49 or article 144, with conventions 87 and Convention 144 of the ILO, which are the ones that speak of tripartite social dialogue. So, for me, this reform is an immense setback in terms of the ability to build social dialogue.“.
(See: The points approved in the labor reform that would directly impact workers).
In this regard, he explained that during the week of October 21 to 27 he will be in the country the director general of the ILO, Gilbert Houngbo, from Togo, who comes to the country for a ministerial meeting on work and education of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and to whom concerns about labor issues have also already been expressed.
“I had the opportunity to meet with him in Geneva (Switzerland) and I told him the great concern I have about the labor reform, this and the previous one, and that it is wanting to be imposed through pure and simple clientelism. Without any type of consultation by the Ministry of Labor“, he stated.
(See: These are the eight new articles that were approved to enter the labor reform).
Labor reform.
Finally, Mac Master expressed that Petro’s comments about a soft coup against him are irresponsible and that ‘in Colombia there is no coup d’état today, neither soft nor hard’ against the president.
(If you want to read Bruca Mac Master’s full interview with Yamid Amat, click here)
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