The curfews and the forced closure of all “non-essential” businesses has been a major disaster for workers at all levels. An estimated half a million workers have lost their jobs over the past two weeks following the declaration of the state of emergency for Covid-19 on 20 March 2020.
According to numbers published late last week by the Ministry of Labor, over 36,000 companies have requested approval of a suspension of work, and this affects 434,000 workers. On last Thursday, alone, the Ministry received over 6,000 requests from businesses, affecting 60,000 workers. The government imposed a first 15-day national quarantine on 20 March, in the face of the rise in positive tests among persons with the flu-like symptoms. The number was doubling every three days. It would have expired on 3 April and was extended to 18 April. A 25-day State of Emergency limits transit and authorizes the government to make emergency purchases expires on 14 April and is expected to be extended. Congress is scheduled to meet to discuss the extension on Monday, 6 April 2020.
To mitigate the effects of the industry and commercial shut down on the workers and business, the government has created the Employee Solidarity Assistance Fund (FASE) by Decree 143-20. The program provides cash payments of RD$5,000 to RD$8,500 to workers registered with the social security system (TSS). The program began covers the months of April and May.
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Listin Diario
6 April 2020