The main unions of Ecuador They marched this Wednesday in Quito on the occasion of International Workers Dayin a mobilization where they celebrated the triumph of ‘No’ to the initiative voted in a referendum to allow hourly contracts and protested against the president’s economic policies Daniel Noboa.
Although the holiday was moved to Friday, May 3 to unite it with the weekend, the Ecuadorian unions, led by the United Workers Front (FUT)they maintained the call for this march for May 1.
However, in the previous days they urged the Government to keep the festive day on the first of the day to facilitate the arrival of participants to the traditional march.
The rally toured the main streets of the historic center of the Ecuadorian capital, from the Alameda Parkin front of the headquarters of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS)to the square Santo Domingo.
The protesters thus celebrated that the proposal proposed by Daniel Noboa’s administration to reform the 2008 Constitution and once again allow hourly labor contracts to encourage job creation was widely rejected by the population in the referendum held on April 21.
Victory of the NO in labor reforms
The ‘No’ won on that issue with 69.50% of the votes, compared to the 30.50% that the ‘Yes’ obtained.
The referendum was made up of eleven questions, where nine on reforms to strengthen the fight against organized crime had broad support, while the two of an economic nature were rejected by a large majority.
The proposal to accept international arbitrations in any jurisdiction was also rejected, a proposal focused on attracting foreign investment, which the unions also celebrated, considering that it represented a transfer of sovereignty.
Noboa’s economic policies were the center of criticism of the march, especially after he managed to raise the value added tax (VAT) starting in April from 12% to 15%, as one of the formulas to alleviate the deficit of about 4.8 billion dollars with which the country closed last year, equivalent to about 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Thus, the unionists also anticipated an eventual reduction in subsidies for fuels of greater consumption, which for the State represent an expense of around 3,000 million dollars.
Agreement with the Fund
Currently the price of gasoline Extra y Eco Country (85 octane) is frozen at $2.46 per gallon (3.78 liters), while diesel also has a fixed consumer price of $1.79 per gallon.
In that sense, the unions anticipated that they will continue to fight against possible economic measures undertaken by the Noboa Government after having closed a new credit program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth 4,000 million dollars for a period of 48 months. EFE (I)
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