| Work Detail |
The Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) had asked the President for this benefit. It is included in the same decree that prohibits the incorporation of more beneficiaries into programs such as the Work Promotion President Alberto Fernández signed decree 728 through which it directly benefits the work cooperatives that depend on the official social movements, by granting them 30 percent “of the National Public Works under the corresponding contracting modality, in the execution of works of up to $300,000,000?. That amount, according to the fourth article of the decree, will be updated as provided by the enforcement authority, and taking as indicative the specialties of said Cooperatives. The benefit had been claimed for months by the main popular leaders who are officials in various ministries, such as Social Development and Labor. First, they tried to get it approved through Congress in the form of a law, but colliding with the will of a good number of deputies and senators, it was decided to take the shortcut of the decree. The fundamentals highlight that it is essential for the National Government to promote policies that generate genuine employment, for which it is necessary to adopt measures to address and prevent labor vulnerability, whose most visible consequences are, among others, indigence, poverty and social exclusion”. The decree does not clarify what type of controls will exist on the work to be carried out under this contract that will be paid with public funds, nor who will evaluate the background of the work cooperatives or who will carry out the tasks. Gildo Onorato, leader of the Evita Movement and union secretary of the UTEP and Daniel Menéndez, national coordinator of Somos Barrios de Pie, and undersecretary of Integration and Training Policies, of the Ministry of Social Development; They told Infobae that the cooperatives of the popular economy will participate in works linked, above all, to the urbanization of the settlements registered in the National Register of Popular Neighborhoods (ReNaBaP); in works of social infrastructure, electricity and gas; improvement of sports and housing centers. Fragment of the decree that assigns a percentage of public works to cooperatives of social organizations “The decree is a way to turn the page on plans and transform them into genuine work. The schemes that have to do with the delivery of machinery and tools granted by the Ministry of Social Development and employment linked to small-scale public works that do not require large machinery are strengthened, ”Menéndez explains to this medium and details that social cooperatives they will access small works that have to do with renovating public buildings, urbanization of neighborhoods, masonry work, sewage. According to the architects consulted by this means, one of them a plant employee in Public Works, put into value and dimension what magnitude a public work of up to three hundred million pesos can have: it represents, for example, the construction of 30 or 35 homes between 50 and 60 square meters in a popular neighborhood. Of course, for that amount you can also change the wiring of a medium-sized public building, pave streets, lay the electrical network or sewage pipes. In specific cases, the staff of the cooperatives must have adequate training to carry out the work, as well as knowledge and experience. The social movements, most of them enrolled in the Workers Union of the Popular Economy (UTEP), whose general secretary is Esteban Gringo Castro, obtained a second achievement. The fifth article of the decree orders the National Procurement Office to “incorporate in the specifications of bases and general conditions, a margin of preference for bidders whose payroll shows a minimum of five percent of workers linked to the Program. Employment Bridge”. The Minister of Labor, Kelly Olmos explained that this resolution allows advance in the process of linking social plans with genuine employment, Victoria Tolosa Paz, her predecessor, did the same and as soon as she was sworn in, she announced that she would deepen this measure and that you would not replace the casualties of the head of Empower Labor with other beneficiaries. As announced by this medium, the same decree 728 specifically prohibits the incorporation of new people to Empower. The sixth article is very clear in this regard: “From the entry into force of this decree, the number of holders of the following programs may not be increased: NATIONAL PROGRAM OF SOCIOPRODUCTIVE INCLUSION AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PROMOTE WORK, PROMOTE YOUNG INCLUSION, NEXO and PLUS ESSENTIAL. The measure adds that: “the savings that are eventually produced will be allocated to productive management units (such as work cooperatives), exclusively for the acquisition of capital goods, within the framework of the regulations that govern programs that provide transfers for said purposes and that dictated by the competent authority for its due implementation”, that is, above all, machines and tools for the cooperatives that will benefit from the contracting of national public works. Empowering Work is the second most important program in the Ministry of Social Development. According to official figures, there are currently some 1,300,000 beneficiaries, of which 400,000 could be discharged after the audits that are underway. The decree that has just seen the light, and that already generates controversies and suspicions, will be a reason for protest by the left-wing social movements that in recent demonstrations and camps called for the universalization of plans such as Empower Work. “What the government does with this embarrassing decree is a shame. It is a monstrosity that not only are the social programs closed, but also that those that fall cannot be replaced. They want to reduce the number of plans not because of the demand but because of the IMF adjustment, Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the Partido Obrero, told Infobae. The also referent of the Piquetera Unit anticipated that it is very likely that next week the leftist social movements will take to the streets to demonstrate against the social policy of Fernández and Minister Tolosa Paz. Juan Carlos Alderete, leader of the Corriente Clasista y Combativa, and a national deputy who is part of the Frente de Todos caucus, also spoke out against the measure of the Executive Power: “Signing this decree before the end of the year is a provocation. . It is possible to discuss how to transform social plans into work, but first the government must create work, with casualties and not incorporate the most needy into the plans. Thousands and thousands of families in our country have many needs. The only thing this does is bring more people to the streets to protest, ”he told Infobae. The CCC, like Barrios de Pie and the Evita Movement, has dozens of work cooperatives that can benefit from public works contracts. So much so that Menéndez, like Emilio Pérsico and Fernando Chino Navarro, referents of Evita, and the three national officials, promoted the decree signed in the last few hours. None of them was surprised by the inclusion of the article that prevents opening the plans to more beneficiaries, it was something that had already been applied de facto. Pérsico, through the Secretary of Social Economy, administers the more than 1,300,000 Work Promotion plans and together with Menéndez and Onorato they also promote the laundering of workers of the Popular Economy through productive monotax, a bill that is boxed in Congress. The most important thing in the decree is the formation of the Council of the Popular Economy, the participation of organizations in public works and the concrete possibility of working on aspects related to productive projects, marketing and access to credit of the popular economy Gildo Onorato, the leader of UTEP and Evita, contributes from his perspective when consulted by Infobae. The presidential decree is also signed by Tolosa Paz, Kelly Olmos, the Minister of Finance, Sergio Massa, the Chief of Staff, Juan Manzur, and the Minister of Public Works, Gabriel Katopodis. The Minister of Social Development was the first official who came out to ponder the resolution that was published today in the Official Gazette: It is a decree worked on and discussed with part of the social organizations made up of the UTEP and other social movements in Argentina, and stressed: We must ensure that the transfer of resources from those who leave the Empower Work is invested in capital goods for the Economically Active Population. By decree, yesterday afternoon President Fernández received Manzur at the Casa Rosada; Massa, Olmos and Tolosa Paz. We have to stop being the ministry of poverty, to be the one of Social Development, said the former deputy and accountant and stressed that today the priority and importance is to provide the tools for the development of the capacities and knowledge of the economically active population and especially the youth so that the country grows and generates greater wealth and greater inclusion”. |
