Former Minister Rudolf Hommes warns that the labor reform will affect those who suffered the most from the pandemic: “the most radical do not think of the weak”

Rudolf Hommes, ex-minister of Hacienda. W-Radio

The labor reform project of the Government of Gustavo Petro, to be presented in the Congress of the Republic on March 16, 2023, is one of the issues that Colombians are currently debating for all that it implies for the generation of employment , the well-being of companies and the formalization of workers.

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With this, the Ministry of Labor will seek the modification of 77 articles of the Substantive Labor Code, in addition to the laws: 50 of 1990 and 789 of 2002. This came after the 18 sessions developed by the so-called Labor Reform Subcommittee, in addition of the visits accompanied by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The portfolio has already given clarity on what this initiative will be like. He reported that it is made up of three parts: Constitutional principles: Equal opportunities for any worker in the public or private sector, whatever their contractual situation, who has a minimum remuneration and job stability. The second part, made up of individual labor law, seeks to protect the worker or worker. And the third, contains the collective labor law of work, and which consists of the guarantees for the union association, collective bargaining and strike

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Of course, the unions and associations expressed what they see in it. For example, the National Federation of Business Merchants (Fenalco) warned that as it stands it would cause companies to assume cost overruns that could exceed 20%.

One of those who always thinks about the decisions of the national government and that impact the country’s economy is the former Minister of Finance Rudolf Hommes.

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Now, regarding the labor reform, he warned that the increase in labor costs of the initiative can lead to increases in productivity because companies are going to reduce labor costs. According to him, the uncertainty is that this reduction in employment will not be corrected with a dynamic increase in the product that prevents greater informality.

In addition, he launched an alert about who will be affected if this initiative is approved as it is.

“Those most affected by the labor reform are going to be the ones who suffered the most from the pandemic: those who search, the informal, the less trained, the small service, food, and tourism businesses, the non-unionized, and those with lower incomes who do not They have a mattress,” he stressed.

He noted that it is necessary to consider those who are going to lose the most with the reform and see how they offer parachutes or soften the blow. In turn, he stated that the popular economy, which Petro seeks to promote, will be damaged.

Tuit by Rudolf Men.

“There is a phenomenon on the left that has an equivalent on the right and that is that the most radical do not think of the weak, they sacrifice them without remorse,” said the former finance minister.

Along the same lines as Hommes, the Dean of Economics at the Universidad del Rosario, Miguel Gómez Martínez, recently stated that “the labor reform must be carried out with the unemployed and informal workers in mind.” He affirmed this when analyzing the unemployment figure published by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) for 2022 and which stood at 11.2% for the national average.

Gómez stressed that strategies are necessary to correct the structural problems of the employment market. Furthermore, he noted that it is clear that economic growth is weakening globally and locally.

According to him, with less dynamic economic activity it is unlikely that unemployment will return to single-digit levels. Therefore, he noted that it is necessary to activate other options to reduce unemployment.

“The labor reform is a golden opportunity to eliminate some of the obstacles that prevent millions of Colombians from having formal and stable jobs. The numerous studies that have been carried out in Colombia on the problems of the labor market conclude that a more flexible framework is needed for the hiring of personnel that improves the productivity of the economy”, highlighted Gómez Martínez about the initiative that will be presented in the Congress of the Republic in the next legislative session.

The Dane report on January confirmed that 2.5 million Colombians are unemployed. Given this, the Dean of Economics at the Universidad del Rosario specified that the Government must propose a labor reform thinking of those who do not have a job and not of those who already have it.

“It is not about reinforcing the guarantees of those who are already in the labor market. We have to think first of those who live in marginality and unemployment”, explained Gómez Martínez.

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