During the mobilization, members of the National Confederation of Independent Union Union (Conusi) carried their flags and condemned the potential loss of 1,500 jobs by 2025.
Protesters earlier warned they had found a letter in which the English Channel’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, stated he could cut up to 1,437 permanent jobs over the next three years.
They indicated that these vacancies will be added to the more than 150 vacancies that are currently not validated, making a total of 1,857 vacancies, which is alarming.
The human resources make it possible to build the canal that belongs to all Panamanians and not to an irresponsible administrator with its maintenance, as shown, the union leaders specified.
They also criticized the administrator’s statements, which aim to confuse public opinion, when he asserts that the efficiency of the old work is linked to job cuts.
They claim that, given these findings, they are wary of Vásquez’s poor decisions to the detriment of the old plant, a national asset that has historically brought the state in profits of only $2,800 million.
That money is managed by the central government, but no one knows where it’s going while the hospital city and education infrastructure improvement aren’t being completed elsewhere, which is why those revenues are important, she denounced.
“It’s time for people to wake up and understand that the real owners of the canal, the republic’s most important asset, are all Panamanians,” they noted.
They also announced that, in accordance with current legislation, they will file a complaint with Conusi before the Committee on Freedom of Association and Experts of the International Labor Organization.
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