Bogotá, May 12 th . Colombia will present two main issues during the 92 nd Conference of the ILO in Geneva next June: state enterprises must be sustainable and their union movements must participate on this process.
Thus spoke Vice-president Santos on Wednesday when he announced he will participate in the Conference. “Union movements must help us solve many of the problems this country faces, instead of being part of the problem. We are keen to build a constructive relationship with them, because we consider their involvement and their work are very important and the Government has taken actions on this direction” he said.
According to Santos, President Uribe's Government has many examples of participatory unionism to show. Agreements with EMCALI, Paz del Rio, Telecom and the energy sector are samples thereof.
It is clear, the Vice-president said, that the Government has worked hand in hand with unions in order to reach agreements to build more feasible and competitive enterprises. In Geneva, Santos will show how agreements and restructuring processes undertaken along with union movements have produced feasible enterprises. One of those examples is EMCALI, an agreement signed on May the 5 th and which prevented it from being liquidated and instead guarantees a feasible enterprise rendering quality services in Cali.
“It is not correct to say that we are a Government that does not work; a Government that does not dialogue, that does not open spaces to work together with unionists, when we see the case of Paz del Rio, the best example of how workers can be a part of the solution” the Vice-president noted.
“Today - he added – workers of Paz del Rio owe 43% of the enterprise which has obtained 40,000 million pesos in earnings to April”. The state policy to be sustained in Geneva will be based on the sustainability of competitive state enterprises.
“The state is keen to save all enterprises, without privatization, but they have to be saved in a sustainable manner. We cannot afford black holes, where a lot of money is invested and only losses and problems are obtained”, he stated.
The Vice-president is confident that the results obtained from working with unionists in Colombia will show ILO member states that it is imperative to transcend from a demanding to a participatory unionism. “When an enterprise is feasible, the Government is more than ready to help. But we will not help inefficient enterprises because the country's economic situation does not allow more money to be wasted in burocracy” he explained.