Faced with a radical change in the conformity of the Congress, the secretary of the legislative union stated that they will not allow unjustified dismissals, even if they are partisan employees.
After the announcement of Ernesto Castro, elected deputy of the New Ideas party and who appears as the new president of the Assembly, that a deep “restructuring” will take place in the administrative part of the Legislative Body, the employees of this entity are in job uncertainty.
The general secretary of the Assembly’s union, Luis Ortega, explained that they will defend all the positions of the workers who truly fulfill their function, regardless of whether they belong to political or institutional parties.
“The constitution is quite clear and Article 218 says that officials and workers are in the service of the state, not of any political faction. At no time can we see that, because the deputy has finished, the worker must leave “, said Ortega.
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The job instability felt by administrative employees is due to the fact that the configuration of the Assembly changed dramatically after the February 28 elections.
ARENA Bank has been considerably reduced: from having 37 substitutes it will reach 14; FMLN was reduced from 23 to 4 legislators; PCN, from 9 to 2 deputies; WIN, from 10 to 5; and PDC, 3 to one.
This leads to a new organization of employees divided into legislative factions. However, ARENA MP Norman Quijano called on the Assembly to come for “humanity” with the workers, given the unemployment situation in El Salvador. Even Guillermo Gallegos of GANA, an ally of the ruling party, said he would make sure the impact on employees was as minimal as possible.
“The only thing that would attract is the sense that seniority of legislative employees is respected, because the least the country needs is instability, especially labor and be consistent with compliance with labor standards, because absolute power (63 votes) does not it gives them the right, “Quijano said.
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Castro, who was elected deputy for New Ideas, said in recent days that when they have the exact details of the final examination, which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (EST) expects to culminate on Wednesday, they plan to audit the Assembly before taking office. the new legislature.
“Once we have the exact contribution to the situation of the Assembly, all that dark situation that has taken place comes to the fore, we will make the relevant decisions. We will change the idea, which we are very firm, is to change absolutely everything, the way of working, the commissions “, Castro explained to YSKL radio.
Gallegos claims that there will undoubtedly be a purification in the Assembly, which is not the idea of GANA, but that he is committed to reviewing this situation in detail.
“We will have to adapt to the new realities, this means that these people will have to stop their positions, there are also people who have gone from parliamentary to institutional groups, these cases will have to be reviewed, I advance the criteria, we did not talk about it , but yes, it is important that all the staff of the Assembly have peace of mind, there is a family behind each person “, said Gallegos.
Castro, probably the new legislature
Prior to the election, Castro served as President Nayib Bukele’s private secretary, and during the election campaign he emerged as the man to take over the reins of the Legislative Assembly.
In fact, Castro also said that he does not intend to share the property of the Assembly with another party, that the new ideas will maintain the helm of the Legislature that enters on May 1, 2021 until April 30, 2024, despite winning several councils in coalition with GANA.
In this regard, Gallegos stressed that the New Ideas also intends to reduce the number of members of the Board, which is currently 11 Members.
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Quijano was the one who made the last restructuring when he was president of the Assembly in the first term of the current legislature, going from 14 directors to 11.
“The May 1 meeting will be totally different from what we are used to administratively, there could be a reduction in board members and many other things that have been thought of,” Gallegos said.
Quijano, Gallegos and PDC MP Rodolfo Parker agreed that the transition from the current legislature to the next has not been considered, but there is a duty the government must honor even if the current Members shall cease to hold office and shall be paid to the suppliers.
“The Ministry of Finance is obliged to make this transfer, we assume that it will make them now,” Parker said.
In December 2020, the President of the Assembly, Mario Ponce, from PCN, reported that the debt with the Assembly’s suppliers was approximately $ 1.1 million, which corresponds to eight months of arrears, because the Treasury did not pay them the money to honor the payments. .
Parker said he was unaware that the Treasury had made a transfer to cancel the Assembly’s suppliers. “I don’t know that a transfer has come,” he explained.