What Julio Brache says about labor reform

The proposal of labor reform recently deposited by the government in the National Congress has generated a clear response from the business unionswho express their disagreement with the document due to the lack of consensus on a key issue in the tripartite dialogue: the layoff.

Julio Virgilio Brachepresident of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), expressed the feelings of the employers: “This reform that has just been presented to Congress does not have the endorsement of the unions because we have not agreed regarding a very important section that exists, which is the issue of unemployment”.

The executive addressed the issue during a meeting with the press of the economic section, in which he specified that the authorities had to wait, due to the lack of agreement between the businessmen, government and workers in this aspect that, according to their calculations, impacts the industrial competitiveness of the country.

The president of the AIRD highlighted the need of adapting labor regulations to the new realities of the global market: “We have reiterated that we respect acquired rights regarding the layoff in the Labor Code, but we consider that it’s timeprecisely due to the international competition that we have with many companies that operate in different countries and compete with their products directly with ours, to adapt this section of unemployment.

Brache recalled that employers have proposed alternatives as unemployment limits and a gradual approach for new employees, which would facilitate the creation of new jobs, especially for young people. “We have proposed limits. We have proposed a gradual approach for new entrants and, above all, to allow that first job,” he said.

The businessman regretted that many young people, despite having graduated from university, face difficulties in entering the labor market. “It’s a shame that a lot of young people who have graduated from college can’t get in,” he said, adding that some companies prefer to have current employees do the work to avoid the long-term cost of hiring new staff.

The businessmen’s proposal

Regarding unemployment, the businessmen had detailed that It is not about eliminating this right, but of modify it. What it is about is establishing a accumulation time limit of that benefit, specifically for the new employeeswhile, for active workers at the time of approving the modification, their accumulated right would be maintained, regardless of the time they have been working, he explained.

Many renovations at once

Brache expressed concern about the number of simultaneous reforms that have been submitted to Congress. “We, like the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep), we think that there are too many reforms together that have been presented in the National Congress“.

The business leader emphasized that these proposed modifications must be widely discussed between the Government, businessmen, unions and productive sectors. “Both the labor reform such as tax They must be discussed more in depth,” he commented.

Within the reforms presented by the government in this last current quarter, the following stand out:

Like businessmen, opposition politicians They have expressed their concern with the speed that the government is carrying out the set of reforms, which will have an impact on the economic, social and political development of the country.