Uruguay: Parliament Approves Budget Plan Damaging for Workers

Uruguay's parliament approved on Monday a budget law proposal that hundreds of workers have spent weeks demonstrating against as it implies salary cuts and purchasing power loss.

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Broad Front (Frente Amplio) deputy Gerardo Núñez pointed out via Twitter that although the government has claimed that education is a priority, the budget cuts its funding, which means teachers would have a new plan to work 18 hours for free.

Moreover, Núñez warned that "the reduction in the fiscal deficit is going to be paid by cutting salaries and pensions, while the corporate and equity exemptions are reversed," the Broad Front militant explained as it recalled that during President Luis Lacalle Pou's campaign, he had pledged that this would not happen.

However, the parliament approved the budget with 57 votes in favor out of 98 in total as Lacalle Pou's government has the support of the parliament's majority.

Since August, union and public workers have carried strikes against a budget plan where the salary guidelines, unilaterally defined by the government, will affect public workers' incomes in 2021 and 2021 at first.

Furthermore, in September, unions representatives explained that although they had dialogued with the government, the outcome was "damaging for the workers."