Banco de Colombia questions Petro’s labor reform

if approved labor reform proposed by the government of President Gustavo Petro in Colombia could lose about 450,000 jobs in three or four years, warned the Bank of the Republic.

In a report prepared by its technical team, the entity indicated that with the initiative there would be “a permanent increase in the average labor cost, as a result of an increase in salary costs and compensation.” He explained that the values ​​would increase between 3.2% and 10.7%, depending on the type of company, although the impact would be greater in small and medium-sized companies.

According to the study, hotels, tourism, restaurants, shops and the entertainment sector would feel the increase in costs more strongly, taking into account that the reform provides for an increase in remuneration for night hours and Sunday shifts.

The report sparked a clash on Wednesday between President Petro and the representative of businessmen in Colombia, Bruce McMaster, who as president of the National Association of Industrialists wrote on his Twitter account that “you cannot promote a labor reform that not only It does not create employment, it destroys it”.

On the same social network, the president responded that “there will never be peace in Colombia with business leaders who believe that wealth is generated by enslaving workers. The social pact consists of dignifying the working conditions of the Colombian people”.

The labor reform is just beginning its course in the Legislature. This week there was a public hearing in which the government, employers and unions intervened and it is expected that in the next few days it will begin its formal processing in a commission of the House of Representatives.

The initiative contemplates the payment of overtime from 6 in the afternoon and not from 9 at night, as is currently the case. It also increases the remuneration of those who work on Sundays and holidays and increases the value of compensation when a worker is fired without just cause.

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