A secretly recorded video caused outrage and discussion in Colombia this Tuesday. The recording shows a man, head of a company, who, after gathering his employees into a squad as if trying to bring military discipline into the business environment, breaks down and begins to attack them with a barrage of disqualifications, rudeness, insults etc. to shout bad words at. This Tuesday, the recording became a labor complaint against the company Casta Agroindustrial Ganadera, based in Ibagué (Tolima), to which the unions, the Vice Minister of Labor Relations and Inspection and even President Gustavo Petro have commented.
They confuse entrepreneurship with slavery. They go beyond the dignity of the employee. That’s why they are against labor reform
They forget that the company is increasingly based on solidarity and intelligence https://t.co/8jLy00qfaT
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 19, 2023
The aggressor’s name is Diego Charry, who appears intimidating throughout the video and repeatedly emphasizes the company’s hierarchy: “Here, Mr. Gustavo Charry is in charge, whoever likes it, he likes it.” He was referring to his brother, the legal representative of the company. At one point in the recording, Charry continues to insult and abuse the workers, addressing only one of them and raising his right hand to point at his face as if he were holding a revolver.
The recording was made last Saturday, minutes after 8 a.m., Mario Alejandro Castillo, the person whose hand was pointed to the face by the employer, told Caracol Radio. According to his description, Charry asked the workers to gather as he needed to give them some instructions. However, from the beginning he addressed her “with vulgar and profane terms”. As soon as they were gathered, the barrage of insults and intimidation seen in the recording began. According to Castillo, Charry prevented them from leaving the place and they feared that physical aggression would follow the verbal aggression.
The video then transitions to a second moment in which the aforementioned Gustavo Charry arrives at the crime scene. At first, Castillo says, the newcomer was surprised by what was happening and that the workers were trained as if they were “in a battalion.” But the moment the fear-induced passivity of the employees was broken by one of the workers demanding respect for himself and his colleagues, he replaced his brother and continued the insults.
According to the story of Castillo, who has been employed at Casta Agroindustrial Ganadera for nine months, the company has “a very high turnover” due to the way the manager treats his employees. “It is always an atmosphere of fear, the thought that there will be retaliation, the constant insults, the mental and psychological effects,” says the injured party, adding that no worker has previously filed a complaint out of fear. But given the support they received after the video was published and distributed, the attitude has changed: “We will finally take the necessary legal action.”
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The record took advantage of social networks, where it became one of the controversies of the day, and spread until it reached the highest levels of government. President Gustavo Petro on his They go beyond the dignity of the worker. That’s why they are against labor reform. “They forget that the company is increasingly based on solidarity and intelligence.”
Edwin Palma, Deputy Minister of Labor Relations and Supervision, used the same network to express his opinion: “They are the ones who believe that because they create jobs, they have a license to abuse their workers.” He then announced, that a team would go to the site of the abuse to inspect and investigate the incidents. And then he issued an invitation to the victims of abuse: “We ask the attacked workers to come to our offices without prejudice to union organizing.”
Bruce Mac Master, president of the National Association of Entrepreneurs (ANDI), joined the discussion and described the images depicting workplace abuse as “unacceptable” and called those responsible “shameful.” However, he asked not to assume that this type of mistreatment is common in all companies in the country: “I also ask not to make generalizations based on this situation, which would not only be unfair but also create a false image of it “the thousands and thousands of valuable entrepreneurs and business people that exist in Colombia.”
As of Tuesday evening, there was no known response from the company or those responsible for the mistreatment. According to Law 1010 of 2006, workplace harassment is a criminal offense that terminates an employment contract without just cause if it has led to the employee’s resignation or abandonment of his or her job. In addition, it is punishable by a fine of between 2 and 10 monthly legal minimum wages (between 2,320,000 and 11,600,000 pesos) for the person responsible or for employers who tolerate it.
This Wednesday, the Ministry of Labor reported that after learning of the complaint, it sent a team of inspectors who found several irregularities that led to the temporary closure of the companies Charry Trading SAS and Varchar SAS. According to the portfolio, the experts verified that the company did not do this. He is neither entitled to work overtime nor is he aware of the delivery of provisions. In addition, there were unsigned employment contracts and some workers did not have medical entrance exams. Minister Gloria Inés Ramírez explained: “The process of temporary closure is fundamentally due to the high and imminent risk to the safety and health of workers.”
In addition, the ministry ordered an investigation into the other Charry group companies operating in several municipalities in Tolima department. He also called for the evidence collected to be sent to the Tolima Department of the Public Prosecution and clarified that the suspension of the company should not have any impact on the payment of salaries of the employees of the sanctioned company.
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