This year the Labor Directorate celebrates 100 years since its formation as a State institution protecting the rights of all workers. Due to the importance of the commemoration of this centenary, the national and regional authorities held an act of recognition for workers in the region, in the former Santiago de Humberstone saltpeter mine, an iconic venue from the golden age of saltpeter and union struggles. .
The ceremony was attended by the national director of the Labor Directorate, Pablo Zenteno, who recognized that the Tarapacá region has a great history of workers’ struggle for their rights.
“We are in the Tarapacá region starting this celebration of the 100 years of the Directorate of Labor, here in the region, precisely in Humberstone and in a very important year, we turned 100 years old, but the government has promoted important reforms in the labor issue, the 40 hours, the Karim that will come into force in August, among other regulations that require our institution to be very strengthened and in that framework it seemed to us, that by the way, strengthening the institution involves recognizing that historical role,” Zenteno commented.
Furthermore, the national director pointed out at the ceremony the importance of working to reduce informal work “these are situations that we should not accept, due to labor informality, what it produces is work that is not protected, does not have a decent salary, that does not have minimum conditions in terms of hygiene and safety, that does not have access to collective rights.”
The authority called on the business community, within the framework of these 100 years of labor management, “it is not possible to continue building working conditions that do not respect the minimum conditions.”
It should be remembered that the supervisory body was created on September 29, 1924, in the midst of strong social tensions in the country. Precisely, one of its first functions of the institution was to generate improvements in working conditions and the situation of workers, through the supervision of compliance with labor laws.
For his part, the regional director of Tarapacá of the Labor Directorate, Jaime Rojas, “Today has several significant milestones, first we are going to have the experience and master class of Sergio González, doctor in history and national award winner, “Together with them we are also going to recognize the work done by the union organizations here in the Tarapacá region and also by the officials who are a great contribution that we have to be able to reach out to the citizens.”
Rojas explained that the Humberstone facilities were chosen, “the historical milestone that it brings with it and everything that is the culture and history of the union social world makes it necessary to do this activity in this town.”
CEREMONY
Among the most relevant points within the ceremony was the Keynote Talk by the 2014 National History Prize, Iquique historian and sociologist Sergio González, with the presentation of his story “General overview of workers’ demand in the context of the saltpeter cycle (1890- 1919)” recalled the harsh living and working conditions that generated social and labor demands repressed by the Chilean state and that in Tarapacá unleashed worker massacres such as those at the Santa María School in Iquique, in December 1907, and in La Coruña, in June 1925.
At the event, recognitions were presented to three prominent and former officials of the Regional Labor Directorate. They are Valeria Prado and Hilda Calderón, both joined the institution in 1975, and Horacio Ara, former regional director, joined in 1981.
A posthumous tribute was also paid to Hugo Bolívar, teacher leader, social activist and former councilor for Iquique, and to the leaders Guadalupe Salas, president of the Union and the Federation of Food Handlers of Chile, and Esmeralda Contreras, former national leader of the workers of the Integra Foundation and current president of the CUT Tarapacá.
The commemoration was enlivened with the presentation of the Liceo Bicentenario Colegio “Williams Taylor” symphony orchestra and the presentation of an artistic painting from the Violeta Parra Artistic School of Iquique.
