Ecuadorian workers reject social security reform proposal | News

Workers grouped in the Unitary Front expressed their rejection of the reform proposal in the social security system promoted by the Government of the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso.

READ ALSO:

Get to know the most iconic works of the painter Oswaldo Guayasamín

The workers described the reform as “criminal” and threatened to take to the streets if it reaches the Constitutional Court, citing what happened in France as a reference.

Union leader José Villavicencio expressed his condemnation of the proposal, declaring that “it is criminal for workers and retirees. If the government dares to send this proposal through urgent economic channels and decree laws, the united front will activate the right to resistance and social protest”.

In turn, the union leader Mesías Tatamuez described the proposal as disastrous and denounced that the affiliated and retired workers were not invited to the commission created by the Government of Guillermo Lasso to propose reforms to the social security system.

Another union leader, Ángel Sánchez, stated that the crisis at the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute will be resolved when the Government pays what it owes to members.

The president of the National Union of Educators, Isabel Vargas, said that they will accept the right to resistance and stated that they will mobilize and take to the streets if President Lasso takes the proposal to the Constitutional Court.

The commission created by the Government of Guillermo Lasso raised the increase in contributions for affiliates between 30 and 35 years of age to reach retirement and that the retirement pension will be reduced since the five best salaries would no longer be calculated during lifetime contributions but up to the 25 best salaries.

The economist Pablo Dávalos declared that “the reform of the pension system is included in the commitment that Ecuador assumed with the IMF in March 2019 and reactivated in September 2020 after lending the country 6.5 billion dollars. In this program of fiscal consolidation and structural reform is the privatization of what is known as the disability, old age and death fund”.