Colombia, Congress reopened debate on Labor Reform

teleSUR English

*Farmer’s organizations assured they will appeal to international bodies *Citizens feel the country’s most vulnerable populations are being turned away *Reform managed to advance in the second debate, although two debates are still pending

Transcript

00:00In Colombia, the Congress reopened the debate on the labor reform as the opposition party

00:04succeeded in eliminating articles considered key, especially for the farmers.

00:08Let's see the details with our correspondent, Hernan Tovar.

00:15The opposition sectors in the Colombian Congress, represented by the right-wing party's Democratic

00:20Center and Radical Change, plus some members of the Green and traditional parties, were

00:25happy and celebrated the majority vote.

00:28They obtained to eliminate key articles of the labor reform that guarantees decent conditions

00:33for farmers.

00:35Some congressmen expressed their rejection of this attitude and the setback for Colombian

00:40farmers and their labor rights.

00:45It was a totally petty decision.

00:47There was a difference of seven votes.

00:49By seven votes, we lost so that the farmers could have the guarantee of an agricultural

00:53contract for a decent agricultural day's wage and the right to rural housing.

00:58We have lost the struggle that we have been fighting for a long time.

01:07This is the feudal thinking of those who want to keep rural workers in subhuman conditions

01:12in order to protect the interests of large landowners and large industrialists who have

01:16taken advantage of the land and agricultural labor in our country.

01:27The articles eliminated were related to the guarantee of social benefits and an employment

01:32contract backed by a legal minimum wage, in addition to having decent conditions for their

01:38daily performance.

01:39The peasant organizations have already assured that they will resort to international bodies

01:43to ensure and respect these rights that the opposition sectors and large associated unions

01:49want to disregard.

01:55We are going to denounce this to the International Labor Organization because it is really an

01:59alarming situation in the Colombian case.

02:05The levels of poverty in the countryside and this denial of these three fundamental rights

02:10of the three Articles 31, 32, 33 will further aggravate the life situations of rural workers.

02:24In the street, the opinion of citizens does not differ with respect to the rejection generated

02:29by the actions of the opposition in the Congress, considering that the most vulnerable populations

02:34of the country are being turned away.

02:39Young people are leaving the countryside because there are no guarantees, and now that

02:44a guarantee was sought with this reform, there was none.

02:49So there will be migration of young people to the cities, and we will have more criminality.

02:54We must base the right to work, which is an inalienable right at international level.

03:04Despite this context, the reform finally managed to advance in the second debate in

03:08the House of Representatives, although two more debates are still pending in the Senate.

03:13For their part, the congressmen who are the rapporteurs hope that these points can be

03:17taken up again in the discussion and keep them alive for the remainder of the Colombian

03:22legislature.

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