This Monday, January 17, the UTE workers’ union issued a statement in which it refers to power cuts, energy exports and raises a series of claims.
In the statement, AUTE indicates that in recent days Uruguay has been hit by a heat wave and now abundant rains and wind, setting in a storm that has generated floods, fallen trees and other situations derived from the current climatic situations.
Cuts in the electricity service “have multiplied, thousands of claims, broken lines and falls, facilities saturated by the high peak of consumption summarize a very complicated situation to maintain the quality of the service”, they express.
Budget cut
The union indicates that “from the UTE Board of Directors they have come out to give explanations in the media, but they omit to say the most important thing, the brutal budget cuts that have been carried out for years in operation, investments, and in personnel income , where in particular as of 2019 more than 500 vacancies have been lost.
“We find ourselves with the lowest workforce in the history of UTE, we are less than 6,000 employees, when we should be close to 8,000 according to data from the UTE itself. More than 2,000 fewer workers. There is a lack of personnel in all areas of the state entity and it is the cause of the great delays in attending to claims by telephone and replenishing the service on the street”, they denounce.
From AUTE they assure that they have been denouncing this situation on various occasions, but “the government and the Board of Directors are responsible for their policy of cuts.”
“Historical energy export record, historical consumption record, demand is growing, and there are fewer and fewer of us to deal with work, we ask the authorities, how long are they going to continue cutting? Who benefits and what is sought by lowering the quality of service? Will they continue to benefit the richest 1% of our country with exemptions and benefits?” asks the union.
Prioritize big customers
On the other hand, they state that “the same authorities that cut personnel are the ones that impose the laws and regulations that advance the commodification of the service, which prioritize the ‘large consumers and important clients’, and attention is delayed in neighborhoods and towns in the interior of the country. What a paradox, those who are given priority in care, pay half the electricity rate paid by the homes of Uruguayan families”.
“We understand energy as a human right and not a commodity, which is why we defend public companies, which are the only ones that can guarantee public services for our people,” says AUTE.
