On Tuesday, April 25, under the banner of “Another reform is possible, don’t let them steal your future,” workers from various sectors observed a 24-hour national strike in Uruguay against a pension reform promoted by the right-wing government of President Luis Lacalle Pou.
In the capital of Montevideo, thousands of citizens, including members of various trade unions and social organizations, organized a massive demonstration outside the Legislative Palace, as the Chamber of Deputies voted to approve the pension reform bill. With flags, posters, drums, and bugles, the crowd expressed its rejection of the reform, which has been termed “anti-people” and “regressive” by union leaders.
The pension reform bill raises the retirement age from 60 to 65 years, eliminates early retirement benefits under the current social security system, increases benefits for the private Pension Savings Fund Administrators (AFAP), reduces pensions for widows and people with disabilities, and shortens terms for collecting pensions.
On Tuesday, after analyzing the reform, the deputies suggested reducing the retirement age to 63 years, among other modifications. These suggestions will now be sent to the Senate for debate and the final vote.
This was the third general strike against the pension reform bill in the past six months. It was called for by the Uruguayan union center, the Inter-Union Plenary of Workers–National Convention of Workers (PIT–CNT). It received the support of the National Organization of Associations of Retirees and Pensioners of Uruguay (ONAJPU), the Federation Of University Students Of Uruguay (FEUU), and the Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives for Mutual Aid (FUCVAM).
The unions stated that “the people are standing up against the fiscal adjustment concealed by means of this pension reform.” They demanded that the government “clarify that it is a pension reform, not a social security reform,” condemning that the authorities [who] “want us to work more and earn less retirement.”
Desde los despachos del Frente Amplio en el Palacio Legislativo tomaron estas imágenes del acto contra la reforma jubilatoria y desde el oficialismo les critican POR QUÉ?? ellos no la hicieron en 15 años. pic.twitter.com/0wHfU5h32G
— leo sarro press (@leosarro) April 25, 2023
During the rally, representatives of social organizations addressed the crowd. In his speech, Sergio Sommaruga, member of the Executive Secretariat of the PIT-CNT, emphasized the reasons for rejecting the reform.
“This reform is not for the people but against the people… It is neither fair nor democratic..[and] furthermore, it is socially inefficient,” said Sommaruga. He questioned whether it was reasonable to support a reform that forces the a vast majority of people to work extremely hard till they are 65 years old in order to retire. He also questioned whether “we should be proud of placing more obstacles in the lives of widows and cutting the disability pensions?” The union leader also indicated that the government’s proposal would “exacerbate the problem of youth unemployment by slowing down labor replacement.”
At another point, Sommaruga asked “where is the freedom when they force the workers of the entire national territory to make a contribution to the AFAP?” In this sense, he said that the biggest beneficiary of this reform is “financial capital, especially the AFAPs.” He added that the government’s pension reform “not only does not solve the problem of the AFAP but rather deepens it.” In addition, he pointed out that this reform “is a hidden fiscal adjustment, and also a labor reform. The real objective of this reform is to transfer USD 1.2 billion from the pockets of the workers to the financial sector.”
The leader stressed that “the struggle continues,” and reiterated that “the unions are open to engage in dialogue with the government.” He warned that in case “the reform is approved in the Congress, let’s be very clear that it will face strong opposition from the trade union movement and the entire popular movement.”
The left-wing opposition Frente Amplio party, which governed from 2005 to 2020, has also rejected the reform, terming it “an unfair reform that harms the majorities.”
The party detailed a series of measures implemented to improve workers’ rights during its fifteen years of administration, and pointed out that these measures obligated its governments to increase the public budget. “But the Frente Amplio did so with a fundamental difference in relation to the reform proposed by the ruling coalition: everyone had to contribute to sustainability,” the party emphasized. “The cost was distributed among workers, companies, the State, and sometimes even the retirees and pensioners with higher incomes contributed. The workers were not charged with the entire cost of the reform, as the government proposes here.”
