Under the motto “Protecting work is caring for children” the 2nd Federal Meeting for Labor was held to analyze the results of the public policies applied. On the occasion, the signing of an agreement for the creation of the COPRETI Board in Aimogasta, Arauco department was carried out.
This meeting was attended by representatives of the Provincial Commissions for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor (COPRETI) of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santiago del Estero and La Rioja.
When speaking, the Secretary of Labor of La Rioja, Myriam Espinosa, expressed: “Your presence reinforces our work of saying no to child labor in a more than difficult context, where we suffer it, we see it, we We manage with the different tools we have at our disposal.”
In addition, he made reference to the National Government arguing that it is “absolutely dehumanizing, where only one has the axis of the zero fiscal deficit, regardless of the Argentines who are currently suffering, the Riojans who have lost their jobs and with that The pockets of the workers are strangled and unfortunately also the stomachs of the girls and boys whose parents have unfortunately been left without work.”
“We – he continued – are going to respond to them with actions like this, with commitments like this, with more work, with more humanity and constantly working with social justice, which is bringing social justice to our girls and boys, because we have it in mind. Of course everything is clear, that a girl and a boy who works is a girl and a boy living in poverty, they are a girl and a boy who suffers irreversible consequences in their physical health, in their intellectual health, in their mental health.” “That is why again and humbly, on behalf of COPRETI and the province of La Rioja, I call on you to continue accompanying us and to continue working with greater effort.”
The secretary urged those present to continue building together: “The country needs us united, because the people are expecting a lot from us.”
For his part, the Secretary of Labor and Employment of La Pampa and president of the Federal Council, Marcelo Pedehontaa, indicated: “I believe that today we are facing an extractivist model, which is more dangerous. But of course, they are telling us that they are coming for lithium, for oil, for fresh water, that in fact they are coming; “But they come for something more fundamental, they come to extract human resources from us, they come to extract the sweat of the workers.”
“They are so unpunished that they declare that a worker cannot have the right to dream that his child can go to university. In other words, a colleague from the UOCRA, a colleague from the UTHGRA, cannot dream of his son having a university degree, that is a luxury. Why is it a luxury? It is a right that Argentines have enjoyed since the Argentine Republic had a Constitution like that of 1949, which established the full rights of workers with constitutional status,” remarked the president of the Federal Council.
Finally, Pedehontaa vindicated the Organized Labor Movement of the Argentine Republic: “A sector stigmatized by everyone and that wants to defend the other, defend its neighbor,” he concluded.
During the meeting, the presentation “Myths and legends about child labor and the difficulties of its eradication” was given by the Executive Director of INFIERA, Independent Researcher of CONICET at the UBA and Associate Professor at the Arturo Jauretche University, Dr. Cecilia Cross.
Participating in this activity were Vice Governor Teresita Madera; the mayor of the Capital Armando Molina; the coordinator of COPRETI, Cecilia Cross; representing the province of Buenos Aires: the Chief of Staff, Cecilia Cecchini; the Secretary of Labor, Gustavo Mariano; the coordinator of COPRETI, Gustavo Viñes; for La Pampa: the undersecretary of Labor Relations, Ana Rodríguez; for Santiago del Estero: the Secretary of Labor of the province of Santiago del Estero, Julia Coman and the director of Hygiene and Safety, Walter Gómez.
