With last-minute key changes in nighttime surcharges and in the contracts of app workers such as Rappi, the paper for the first debate of the labor reform of the government of gustavo petro.

The new text has 82 articles, of which in 46 there is already consensus between the parties. However, the rest will be defined in the middle of the legislative debate that will have to take place until June 20, when the legislature ends, and if they are not enough, extra sessions would be called.

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The lack of agreements was what delayed their filing. Although the rapporteur coordinator Maria Fernanda Carrascal, of the Historical Pact, scheduled it for Tuesday, at 7 in the morning, then delayed it to 2 in the afternoon and finally it was left for yesterday.

This is due to the annoyance of some parties, among which were ‘la U’, the Liberal and the Conservative, who assured that they were not taken into account. Therefore, it met again outside of schedule and made a series of important changes at the last minute.

In addition to this, the representative Víctor Manuel Salcedo, from the ‘U’ Party, not only did not build the project, but also filed an alternate paper.

One of the last minute changes was that the night shift starts at 7 pm and not at 6 in the afternoon as the Government had proposed (today it starts at 9 at night).

“Removing an hour of recharging is an element of consultation and dialogue. We want a reflection to be made about what 22 years have meant where labor rights have been curtailed”, said the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez.

Precisely, this is one of the points that has caused the most concern to the economic unions from the beginning due to the higher cost overruns What it would mean for companies. For example, from the Fenalco merchants union they have repeated that they will be impacted on all those businesses that have to open at night such as restaurants, bars, accommodation, entertainment and private surveillance and security companies. .

«As the paper was drawn up, it can be deduced that the recommendations of unions and economic organizations were not taken into account and that it continues to be a reform that will deepen the privileges of some minorities, will create multiple union positions protected by jurisdiction, substantially constituting the costs for businessmen and entrepreneurs and will lead to the loss of formal jobs, without providing a solution to unemployment and informality,» said Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the merchants.

The Sunday and holiday surcharge also underwent changes. In the initial proposal of the Government, it was said that this would be 100 percent instead of the 75 percent that exists today on the ordinary salary in proportion to the hours worked.
This would remain at 100 percent, but it would be implemented gradually: from July 2024 the surcharge for working on a mandatory rest day or holiday would be 80 percent, in July 2025 it would rise to 90 percent. and in July 2026 it would reach 100 percent.

«The current version creates major obstacles to entrepreneurship, SMEs, discourages hiring and seriously affects employment,» said Bruce Mac Master, president of Andi.

It must be remembered that not only the trade unions have alerted about the possible impacts of this type of measure on employment. Last week, the Labor Market Analysis Group (Gamla), Banco de la Repúblicapublished a report that projected that companies would be forced to lay off in an intermediate scenario some 450,000 of their formal employees in a horizon of between 3 and 4 years.

Another controversial point that changed at the last minute is that of the Hiring workers from digital delivery apps like RappYo. Finally, what happened approved talks about a «special or alternative contract» with all the rights and guarantees that the rest of the dependent workers have.

This means that the distributors of this type of application have an employment relationship derived from the subordination exercised by each platform. On the contrary, the applications continue to defend that their workers are independent and that the function of the apps is simple intermediation.

Therefore, the guild that brings them together, alliance in, says that they are still dissatisfied with what is proposed and that they have not been officially heard. “The presentation proposal is worse than the original. Forced labor continues to be maintained and, therefore, more than 80,000 jobs for people who operate as delivery men through digital platforms continue to be in danger,” said José Daniel López, executive director of the union.

Among other risks for companies and employment, Fenalco also warned that the reform would end the possibility of hiring outsourced personnel for the companies’ permanent needs, which would affect services such as those provided through call centers, a sector that generates miles of jobs.

other changes

The paper, which will now have to pass four debates in Congress before it can become law, brings other important changes with respect to the original government proposal. Among them are some such as that fixed-term contracts can be signed for up to three years and not two as initially proposed.
In addition to this, the new text also states that the involvement of agricultural workers through temporary service companies and labor outsourcing.

In addition, in the case of unjustified dismissals for people with permanent contracts, they would no longer be paid 45 days of salary as the Government proposal said, but 35.

Also, changed the implementation of paternity leave. Now it would go from 2 to 12 weeks from now to 2026 (at first there was talk of 2025). It would be gradual: 6 weeks from the entry into force of the law, later, in 2024, it would rise to 8 weeks, in 2025 it would reach 10 and in 2026, 12.

Although before it was said that they could not enter into contracts for the provision of services for permanent and subordinate activities in private companies, the word ‘permanent’ no longer remained and, therefore, they could take notice.

Likewise, it was established that the worker may terminate his contract by means of a notice of 30 calendar days for the employee to replace him.
In addition, it was specified that this will not apply if the resignation is induced by the employee.

In the new proposal there were also new articles such as the one that says that 20 percent of people in the agricultural sector will be prioritized in the subsidy and aid programs for companies. Also another to implement an educational policy that allows certifying ancestral empirical knowledge and knowledge.