Cuts to Peruvian Youth Labor Exposed as Big Business Strategy

Investigative articles published by Alvaro Vidal yesterday in LaMula.pe and by Beatriz Jimenes today in LaRepublica.pe reveal how the now infamous Law 30288 was cooked up behind the scenes by associations of large firms and entrusted to the ministers of production and of economics and finance.

The law, popularly known as Ley Pulpín, discriminates against all those under the age of 25 by taking away a number of rights at work such as vacation time and reducing their minimum wage salaries.

The investigations also revealed how the legislation was written and approved in a rush by Congress and the president, going against the opinions of a series of experts, the International Labor Organization, and sectors of the Ministry of Labor.

In October of this year, a letter signed by a group of those experts denounced an “intense media campaign promoted by some business associations and media conglomerates, to demand from the government reforms in the labor code oriented to reduce the labor rights of workers.”

In the letter, they explain that “the campaign is harmful” and “the arguments are false.” It is revealing that after signing the letter, Christian Sanchez was fired by the government from the National Institution for Labor Supervision. Furthermore, the expedited process also avoided debates, not only by political authorities but also by social organizations that will be affected by the legislation.

The main business organizations involved in the creation of the law were the Association of Exporters and the National Society of Industries or the SNI. Those organizations have been trying to reduce the rights of workers in Peru because they consider them to be extra costs. The article in LaRepublica.pe provides details of how the SNI insisted on making the labor market flexible, making firings easier, reducing the minimum wage, and cutting benefits and rights. It also points out how the minister of production, Piero Ghezzi, participated in those meetings and adopted the directives enthusiastically.

However, even before these investigative articles were published, Peruvians have become aware of extent of the participation of business in government. During anti-Law 30288 protests last Monday, demonstrators marched to the office complex of CONFIEP, the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions. At one point, the police formed a barricade between the protestors and the large gates of the complex to prevent them from bringing it down.

There is now a general sense that the Ley Pulpín has actually helped politicize a new generation of Peruvians. Indeed, the many young people who have taken to the streets view this law not as an isolated case but as part of a larger systemic problem, and are thus becoming increasingly critical of neoliberal capitalism. Another march is planed for this Saturday, December 29.