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On their day, workers asked for their rights to be respected


SANTO DOMINGO. As today commemorates the International Labor Day, representatives of the workers syndicates went yesterday to the National Congress to demand that the legislators give them legal guarantees to organize freely and obtain better salaries.

"What we want is that the Labor Code be adapted to the constitutional mandate of January 2010, in the sense of guaranteeing that Dominican workers can exercise democratically the rights given by the Constitution, such as the right of union freedoms, the power to freely organize a union, to be able to negotiate with employers a system of readjustment for inflation, but which will be automatic," noted Francisco Ramirez, the Secretary-General of the Confederation of Workers Unity (CTU).


They complain that these rights have been sequestered by the employers, which is seen, according to him, by the fact that there are more than 64,000 companies registered at the Social Security Treasury and there are barely 200 unions that are active.

He said that when they try to form a new union, there are shady deals with the company, because if the workers tried to do it independently, they are destroyed, either by bribing them or by firing them.

Ramirez also wants to have the right to strike, which he says, has impediments since the time of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.

Labor Day, which is celebrated each First of May, finds a scenario of marches and protests all over Latin America, where better salaries and the respect of their rights are the greatest conquests demanded by the working class.

A cable by the Spanish News Agency EFE, refers to the fact that in Argentina, the official wing of the Argentine Workers Central, will ask for a law for parental license, a reform of earnings tax, a law for workers cooperatives and the end to outsourcing.

"In Brazil it was announced that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will take part in São Paulo in the march convened by the principle unions, which this year has special relevance after the Chamber of Deputies approved the legislative proposal for labor reform that eases the regulations for outsourcing their hiring of workers," cited EFE. There is also activity in Mexico, Venezuela and Bolivia.

In this country, Ramirez called for shielding the rights of the workers, and action that he says, corresponds to the National Congress.

Yesterday, the President of the Association of Micro, Small and Medium Companies of Herrera (Asomipymeh), Elias Baez, accused the large companies of placing impediments for the increase in the minimum salary of workers.

He said that for nearly 3 years the working class has been fighting for a salary increase, and it is time to come to their assistance. He feels that the government should establish their position with regard to this and he demanded a pact in order to increase the pay of the workers.