Uruguay: Construction Union Strikes Against Salary Cuts

The Single National Construction Union (SUNCA) of Uruguay held on Wednesday a general assembly and a strike to demand wages guarantees as the sector is one of the few that has expectations of growth in the short term; therefore, workers won't accept a salary cut.

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Under the slogan "Not a step backward - work, bread and salary" workers demonstrated in the framework of the fight for a new collective agreement for the industry that reflects the needs of the sector, without loss of wages.

The strikes also condemn the Urgent Consideration Law, approved on July 8, and considered an instrument to introduce a neoliberal agenda in the country. The law pretends to "cut the working class down the throat," Daniel Diverio, the Union's president during the assembly.

"Amid a pandemic, the government made us take to the streets, arguing that we are the engine of the economy if we are the engine of the economy we want part of what we generate," Diverio added.

The Union claims the generation of a fund for baskets for colleagues who suffer from lack of work as well as a collective agreement that allows them to put in the first place how they will face the current health crisis.

The workers also claim a social security reform, the financial inclusion law, and the investment plan in the budget, among other claims.

The Union warned that they wouldn't accept a salary cut under the pretext of inflation, as they say, it is "unsatisfactory" the proposal by the four business unions which stood next to the Executive Power, offering a 3percent increase. At the same time, the workers claim to recover up to 12 percent of inflation.

People gathered around May 1. Square, in the capital Montevideo as well as other localities in the country as the line followed by the government, has been one of cutting down salaries to all sectors.

In contrast, construction workers claim that as the sector grows, there is no reasonable argument for reducing salaries for them as well nor to other growing sectors as the farmers and the financial industry.

Other unions will join the protests in the coming days. On July 29 a strike has been convened by the Public Enterprises Union (UTE) against the dismantling of public companies, salary cuts; loss of wages; the basket of services, and the basic income.