"COLOMBIA NEEDS AN HOURLY WORK SYSTEM"

Alicia Arango

The minister put on the table the proposal that companies assume the
obligation of pensions and the health of employees who work for
hours. Ensures that Rappi and other platforms must pay social security.

"The income of the Rappitenderos is not enough to pay their health and pension." Photo:
León Darío Peláez // WEEK

When the Minister of Labor, Alicia Arango , took office, she said that
Colombia needed a more flexible labor regime. The senior official, one of
the most important people in the Duke government cabinet, proposed an
ambitious reform. This Tuesday, he launched the first ideas. Arango spoke
at several stations in the country and left on the air a proposal as bold as
controversial: that in the country the door was opened so that
employees could be hired for hours and pay for social benefits at the
same time.

Arango considers that it is time to give that discussion. "Today in the

country there are 22 million workers, but only 8 million are quoted and 15
million are in informal jobs because they must bring bread to the house as
it is. Therefore, it is necessary to give flexibility so that more Colombians can
work and be entitled to health, to the pension and to unionize, "he told
WEEK.

"It is necessary to give flexibility so that more Colombians can work and have the
right to health, pension and unionization," Alicia Arango.

We recommend: "A new labor reform is required": Alicia Arango

For her, "the more rigid the labor standards, the less companies will be
willing to hire more people, and we need more formal work. The world has
become global in hiring issues and, therefore, we must review and socialize
this issue. with the unions. So far nothing is defined or written, but we have
to move forward with this reform and at the same time promote trade
unionism in these new forms of contracting. "

Con la fórmula, esos millones de colombianos que hoy no tienen un

empleo formal podrían ser cotizantes del régimen de salud y
pensión. Hoy si ellos quieren hacerlo deben pagar este costo como
independientes. La propuesta de la ministra es que si una empresa
contrata a alguien por horas, también tiene la obligación de aportar las
prestaciones sociales por ese tiempo. En la práctica, si la medida es
aprobada, beneficiaría a personas que trabajan en las labores
domésticas, por ejemplo las empleadas que cada día asisten a una casa
distinta. O a los taxistas que tampoco tienen necesariamente una relación
formal con el dueño del carro.

However, critics say that with that departure, companies can end up looking
for people for hours and avoid paying the full day. For that reason, the
proposal has been received with some reservations from the unions, who
fear that this decision implies a 'pauperization' of the work. Some union
leaders have said that such measures cannot leave the door open for
formal work to be put at risk. The minister assured that for that there will
be controls of the inspectors of that portfolio.

You can read: Why is the meeting to discuss the minimum wage
'historic'?

Rappi, to pay social benefits

The minister also touched on a controversial issue. He said that it is time

that "s e fix the argument of digital platforms regarding the pension and
health of their workers." The phrase had a recipient, Rappi. In recent
weeks, hundreds of rappitenderos have protested because while the
company announces the growth of their profits, they have lowered the
income they have for each lap they make.

The topic opened the discussion on the thin line that divides the model
associated with a platform with informal employment without social
security. Labor law today covers formal jobs and they do not understand
them that way. With the statements of Arango, the government today
aligned itself with the workers. "The incomes of the rappitenderos are not
enough to pay their health and pension; we cannot let it happen that they
do not have social security under the figure that they are independent," he
said.