Paraguay
In Asunción, a collective bargaining agreement with a strong fiscal impact is being rushed ahead of the municipal elections
According to ABC Color, the administration of Luis Bello and three unions are seeking to have the Municipal Board approve a new labor agreement this week, before the October 4 elections. The opposition says the process is being accelerated without debate and for electoral purposes.
The Municipality of Asunción has become the center of a political and labor dispute over a new collective bargaining agreement that, according to ABC Color, Mayor Luis Bello is promoting together with three unions so it can be approved before the municipal elections on October 4.
The outlet says the document was formally introduced in an extraordinary session held on Friday and that the ruling bloc intends for the Municipal Board to consider it at this Wednesday’s ordinary session. The opposition questions the fact that the bill is moving forward without sufficient financial analysis and argues that the maneuver seeks to influence a structure of more than 9,000 municipal employees in favor of Camilo Pérez‘s candidacy.
Still according to ABC Color, behind the agreement are the Sindicato Municipal de Trabajadores de la Ciudad de Asunción (Simuca), the Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados de la Municipalidad de Asunción (Sinoema) and the Sindicato Municipal de Trabajadores de la Ciudad de Asunción (Sitrama), which bring together some 7,000 members and are demanding the immediate signing of the agreement.
Among the planned changes are new seniority bonus scales calculated on the legal minimum wage, with brackets ranging from 25% for those with between 5 and 10 years of service to 100% for those with more than 40 years. ABC Color said that component alone, measured using July payments for municipal employees, amounts to G. 7,867 million, equivalent to about US$ 1.4 million.
The newspaper also reported that the university degree bonus would rise to 65% of the legal minimum wage and the technical degree bonus to 35%. Adding the seniority, university degree and technical degree payments at the Intendencia and the Municipal Board, the total cost would reach G. 12,608 million, about US$ 2.2 million.
In the Board, the debate was marked by clashes between the ruling bloc and the opposition. ABC Color quoted councilman Álvaro Grau, of the PPQ, who questioned the ruling bloc’s decision to allow the document to be introduced and attributed that move to political coordination linked to Pérez’s candidacy. The outlet also reproduced criticism from councilman Humberto Blasco, of the PLRA, who said they intend to vote on an agreement with legal and financial consequences without everyone having read it.
The discussion was preceded by union protests, with temporary occupation of municipal offices, intermittent roadblocks and blockades on Mariscal López avenue, according to ABC Color. The unions also warned of a possible punitive vote at the polls and of the possibility of an indefinite general strike if the agreement does not move forward.
In that context, the newspaper linked the push for the contract to the municipality’s financial situation and to the political continuity of the cartista sector in Asunción, in an administration it first associates with Óscar “Nenecho” Rodríguez and then with Bello.
Fuentes
Sobre esta nota. Redactada por El Notero con asistencia de inteligencia artificial, a partir de lo publicado por el medio citado. El Notero no hizo reporteo propio sobre este hecho.
