Colombia’s national government Monday asked Congress to put several
labor reform projects on hold until more is known about the
behavior of the global financial crisis.
The 60 projects include the new minimum wage, the estimation of inflation, maternity leave and many other initiatives that are related to work conditions in Colombia.
Social Welfare Minister Diego Palacio Monday told Congress that because of the current economic uncertainty it is better to wait and see what is going to happen in the global context and how it will affect the Colombian economy.
Colombia initially was rather optimistic about its preparation to face the 2008/2009 financial crisis, but the extent of the crisis is hurting Colombia’s foreign investment and export and thus its economic growth, despite the country’s compliments from the IMF and World Bank about its relatively positive economic climate.
The government considers that the approval of
some of the projects would be inconvenient in this moment of the
crisis. Some of them keep benefits for workers and others for
employers. Recently, a project that would deliver more benefits to
workers like the payment of extra hours after 6pm, was sunk in Congress.