Feuding construction parties urged to keep talking

Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (Cciap),has urged the  Construction  employers’ Guild (Capac) and the Construction Workers Union (Suntracs), to keep  the dialogue table open regardless of the final result

In its weekly bulletin issued on Sunday April 22 the Chamber  said that the declaration of a strike is not the ideal of a process of negotiation, but recognizes that it is a guarantee that provided by the Constitution.

They also called for weighing the highest interests where the priority must be the preservation of jobs, such as the generation of many more to respond to the existing unemployment in Panama.

They stressed that national economic growth is currently  due to the advancement of activities related to transport, logistics and communication, while others are decreasing, including construction

The CCIAP recognizes the right of unionized workers to negotiate the collective agreement within the applicable legal framework and remembers that “the exercise of the right  resulted in four years where construction  workers achieved significant wage increases and unique benefits.”

This  occurred within the framework of a very  different economic context and  currently, Panama lives under the effect of an economy in deceleration, and  an excessive increase in wages, plus corresponding benefits would only bring with it a greater impact to this process and an untimely increase to the final price of housing.

“It is important to understand that what is achieved in this negotiation will have repercussions in most sectors of the economy and population. We trust that the negotiations will be carried out with the will of the

parties in order to pave the way for the achievement of a reasonable solution “, said the statement.