Uruguay
Outsourced Mides workers continue to face salary delays while negotiating with the Uruguayan government
The Sutiga union says some 1,500 employees have not been paid for about a month and a half. They are maintaining a tent outside the Presidential Office and taking part in a roundtable with three ministries to seek a lasting solution.
The Single Union of Workers of Trade and Related Institutions has maintained a tent outside the Presidential Office for more than a month to demand a structural solution to delays in the payment of salaries to outsourced workers at Uruguay’s Ministry of Social Development.
According to union leader Marcelo Bentos, speaking to Caras y Caretas, there are currently around 1,500 workers from more than seven civil society organizations who have gone about a month and a half without being paid. He added that in some grassroots groups the longest delays mean that some people have not received a salary for nearly two and a half months.
According to Bentos, a negotiating forum was opened with representatives from the ministries of Economy and Finance, Labor and Social Security, and Social Development, with the expectation of finding answers by early October. The roundtable was set up after a conflict that, according to the union, has been ongoing for a year and a half under this administration and had precedents in previous governments.
While a lasting solution is being discussed, the union is keeping the tent in place and accompanying the meetings with general strikes and rallies, usually outside the MTSS. According to Caras y Caretas, tripartite meetings are also continuing between the organizations, Mides and the Labor Ministry in an effort to unblock pending payments.
Sutiga argues that outsourcing is the main structural problem behind precarious conditions and labor noncompliance in Mides social programs. In that context, it is calling for a move toward de-outsourcing and the incorporation of those positions into the budget, as well as the establishment of a mechanism that guarantees salary payments even when administrative delays persist.
Among the alternatives proposed by the union was the creation of a trust fund administered by the National Development Corporation to ensure salary payments regardless of how the organizations are functioning. According to Caras y Caretas, that proposal did not move forward and the government had not presented an alternative at that point to guarantee payment.
The union also denounced that repeated delays leave workers in debt and struggling to cover food, medicine and rent. According to Bentos, donation campaigns are being activated to support both those who go longer without being paid and the food supply in the tent set up in Plaza Independencia.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
