Speaking yesterday, Wednesday 12 March, President Danilo Medina pledged to respect any consensus reached by management and labor representatives on the modification of the Labor Code.
He said that he did not understand why there is so much nervousness if they have still not reached an agreement. As he attended the wake for the father of the president of the Petroleum Refinery, Felix Jimenez at the Blandino Funeral Home, the President said that during the last election campaign, society requested a revision of the Labor Code, and once in government, he called on the sectors involved to recommend specialists for talks. He made it clear that in order to modify the Code, there are three parties, but basically two, which are labor and management, and that either of them and the administration can apply the veto.
“If they do not reach an agreement, they did not reach an agreement. They are going to hand the government the areas that the three parties involved in the talks can agree upon. We expect that they will reach an agreement in the areas where they can agree, and where there is no agreement, there will be no accord. It is as simple as that,” he said.
Medina said that the people who are talking would reach an agreement and that the authorities will back any parts where there is consensus. When he was asked about the consequences of a modification of the Code that affects the workers, the President said: “The government’s philosophy is to take care of the people, the only thing I am trying to do in this administration is to improve the material conditions and the living conditions of our people, that is why I am here and this is what I am doing.”