Faced with a radical change in the composition of 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 party New Ideas and who is shaping up as the new president of the Assembly, that there will be a deep “restructuring” in the administrative part of the Legislature, the employees of this entity are in job uncertainty.
The general secretary of the Assembly’s union, Luis Ortega, has explained that they will defend all the positions of workers who truly fulfill their labor function, regardless of whether they are from political or institutional parties.
“The Constitution is clear enough and Article 218 says that civil servants and workers are in the service of the state, not of any political faction. At no time can we see that because the deputy ended he must go the worker, ”Ortega said.
You might read: Some 1,500 PPI agents are afraid of losing their jobs with new Legislative Assembly
The job instability felt by administrative employees is due to the fact that the configuration of the Assembly changed drastically after the February 28 elections.
ARENA’s bench has been considerably reduced: from 37 deputies to 14; the FMLN was reduced from 23 to 4 legislators; the PCN, from 9 to 2 deputies; WIN, 10 to 5; and the PDC, from 3 to one.
This leads to a new organization of employees assigned to legislative factions. However, ARENA MP Norman Quijano called on the Assembly to enter “humanity” with the workers, given the unemployment situation in El Salvador. Even Guillermo Gallegos, from GUANYA, an ally of the bureaucracy, said that they will ensure that the impact on employees is as small as possible.
“The only thing I would appeal is in the sense that the seniority of legislative employees is respected, because the minimum that the country needs is instability, especially labor and be consistent with respect for labor rules, because absolute power ( 63 votes) does not give them the right, “Quijano said.
You may be interested in: “It was quite ridiculous the fall” that made the director of Migration, says Guillermo Gallegos
Castro, elected deputy of New Ideas, has stated in recent days that when they have the exact detail of the final ballot, which the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) expects to culminate this Wednesday, they have planned to conduct an audit in the Assembly before take possession of the new legislature.
“By the time we have the exact input of the situation of the Assembly, all this dark situation that has occurred comes afloat, we will make the relevant decisions. We will change the idea, which we carry very firmly, is to change absolutely everything, the way they work, the commissions, “Castro told YSKL radio.
Galicians maintains that there will undoubtedly be a debugging in the Assembly, which is not an idea of WIN, but that they are committed to reviewing this situation in detail.
“We will have to adjust to the new realities, this means that these people will have to resign, there are also people who have gone from parliamentary to institutional groups, we will have to review these cases, I am advancing criteria, we have not talked about that, but it is important that all the staff of the Assembly has peace of mind, behind each person there is a family “, said Gallecs.
Castro, the likely new legislative president
Even before the election, Castro served as President Nayib Bukele’s private secretary and during the election campaign profiled himself as the man who will take the reins of the Legislative Assembly.
In fact, Castro also said that they do not plan to share the ownership of the Assembly with another party, that New Ideas will maintain the helm of the Legislative Body that enters on May 1, 2021 until April 30, 2024 , although they have won some deputations in coalition with WIN.
In this regard, Gallecs noted that Noves Idees also intends to reduce the number of members of the Board of Directors which is currently 11 deputies.
We recommend: Final scrutiny by Legislative Assembly leads 95% advance; some tables have already finished the count
Quijano was the one who made the last restructuring when he was president of the Assembly in the first period of the current legislature, going from 14 directors to 11.
“The Assembly from May 1 will be completely different from what we are used to administratively, there may be a reduction in members of the Board of Directors and many more things that have been thought,” said Gallecs.
Quijano, Galicians and the deputy Rodolfo Parker, of the PDC, agreed that it has not been analyzed how the stage of transition of the current legislature to the next one will be carried out, but there is a debt that the government will have to honor even if the current deputies finish their duties and it is the payment to suppliers.
“This transfer the Ministry of Finance is obliged to make, we assume that now it will make them,” said Parker.
In December 2020, the President of the Assembly, Mario Ponce, of the PCN, reported that the debt with the suppliers of the Assembly was around $ 1.1 million corresponding to eight months of delay, due to the fact that the Treasury he had not disbursed their money to honor the payments.
Parker said he is unaware that Treasury has made any transfer to cancel the Assembly’s suppliers. “I don’t know if a transfer has come,” he explained.