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In the midst of the economic crisis that the pandemic has unleashed, which has led the country’s productive sector to a semi-paralysis, Because of the confinement measures adopted at the national level to protect citizens from contagion, many sectors of the national business have made claims, mainly on behalf of the little ones.
The search for exits led the president of Acopi, Rosmery Quintero, to express several proposals, one of them, of great controversy. This is a salary reduction of up to 30%, among other ideas. Here are the arguments of the union leader, in a special column for TIME.
The circumstances and economic projections of our country have been distorted due to the pandemic caused by covid-19. As a result of this, the different governments took extreme measures of mobility to avoid the collapse of the health system. Confinement has not only led citizens to remain in their homes, it has also paralyzed the productive sector, except for essential activities such as food, health, and transportation.
In Colombia there are 1,630,000 MSMEs (Confecámaras) formally registered, which generate 80% of employment and contribute 40% of gross domestic product (Dane). The cessation of activities has led this significantly representative segment, today, to be going through a high level of uncertainty to preserve the infrastructures and income of many Colombians, because we are companies, we are people and families who depend on them.
It is estimated that, since the cessation of activities (March 17), this segment has made a social contribution by paying the monthly payroll ($ 15.7 billion); However, liquidity problems due to the affectation in sales and income exceed 76%, becoming an obstacle to continue with the support of its workers.
(It may interest you: The future that awaits us when the coronavirus passes)
The calculations made by the union estimate that 65.32% have maintained their payroll, despite the fact that at the start of the pandemic 82.43% did not have sufficient resources to cope with the crisis. Therefore, the lack of liquidity and resources leads the employer or managers to make the most difficult decision, to dismiss collaborators, who will not have much chance of being linked in the formal market, 61% of those surveyed stated it.
The possibility of a temporary decrease in wages by up to 30% could arise, as long as it is not less than 1 s. m. m. l. The program must last three months
Through this space, I make a respectful call to our President and ministerial team to listen to our proposal SOCIAL RETENTION OF EMPLOYMENT PLAN.
Initially, we carried out an analysis based on the sectors with the highest vulnerability, which yielded coverage for 7.8 million workers associated with these activities and a cost of 6.8 trillion pesos per month (0.71% of GDP), with the passing of socialization and the search for a balance to support the needs of the country, it was considered that this social program should have the following criteria: i) the program should be aimed at formal companies, ii) pIt would hate to present the possibility of a temporary decrease in wages of up to 30%, as long as it is not less than 1 s. m. m. l. v. iii) the program must last three months, iv) companies must maintain jobs, v)
subsidies must be proportional to low-income and high-income workers. It is proposed that the lowest wages appropriate a greater participation of the subsidy, while the highest wages receive a lower participation of the subsidy, and vi) the companies, in order to become beneficiaries, must show a drop in their income of 30% or more compared to to the same period of previous years with accounting audit support, linked to the isolation measure for the control of the covid-19.
In this sense, the total amount of the different scenarios could be: i) first scenario, $ 7.1 trillion pesos per month (0.8% of GDP), ii); second scenario, $ 4.9 trillion pesos (0.6% of GDP), and iii) $ 3 trillion (0.3% of GDP).
For this irrigation of resources, it is worth mentioning that our country has the structure of the Integrated Pila Settlement Payroll Form through which the process would be managed in a transparent manner accompanied by the pension unit and UGPP parafiscal.
This is the cry of the micro, small and medium-sized companies that have always opted for the economic and social development of the country, only today the circumstances are adverse.
ROSMERY QUINTERO
PRESIDENT OF ACOPI
SPECIAL FOR THE TIME
