The Vice Minister of Labor Relations, Edwin Palma, surprised more than one this week and publicly launched a warning against some companies in Colombia if the labor reform, led by the government of Gustavo Petro, does not pass in Congress.
Faced with these statements, representative Andrés Forero spoke exclusively with and assured that they believe that the national administration wants to monopolize, in some way, the relationship between workers and employers.
The congressman also took advantage of the situation to point out in this medium that President Petro and the Ministry of Labor have tried to “demonize” businessmen Colombians saying that they do not think about the well-being of their collaborators.
“I think the vice minister did not express himself in the way he wanted to. But he ends up agreeing with those of us who have said that collective agreements should not end. Even in the reform it is proposed that these pacts end. We feel that the government wants to monopolize the relationship between workers and employers through unions, which, we believe, should not be the case,” he initially expressed.
Then, he added: “The President of the Republic and the Minister of Labor have said it, and they are trying to demonize Colombian businessmen. The truth may be that there are abuses, but those who comply with the regulations today pay, for example, the highest nightly surcharge in Latin America. We can argue, but not with the narrative that formal employers are slaveholders, as the president has unfortunately stated.”
Forero stressed that it could not be denied that there are unions in Colombia that feel threatened by the Petro Government. The representative also questioned some points of the reform, which is being debated in the Seventh Commission of the Senate.
It is worth mentioning that the project is slowed down for several reasons. The first is that the Government is involved in health and pension reforms.because, if they are not approved before July 20 (the day the legislature ends), they will collapse, and the legislative moves for these two bills do not give time to unblock the labor law.
Finally, the congressmen are held back waiting for winks from the businessmen, who remain upset because Minister Ramírez calls them to agree on the content of that text, despite the fact that in December she had promised them that they would meet in January.
