“We understand the difficult situation, which is why Agreement 080 allows workers and employers to reach an agreement to ensure the payment of wages, which is an inalienable right. Once activities resume, the workday will be restored, which may be up to 12 hours from Monday to Friday and eight hours on Saturdays, without additional overtime pay.” Luis Poveda, Minister of Labor

The difficult situation the country is going through requires extraordinary measures that must be implemented immediately; however, implementing these measures does not imply violating the rights of workers and employers, and therefore guaranteeing these rights is the duty of the state and its high command.

 

To this end, mechanisms have been developed to fulfill this duty, such as Ministerial Agreement 080 , which allows for the creation of mutual agreements between workers and employers in order to maintain national production and ensure the remuneration of workers despite the temporary suspension of the working day.

The Ministry of Labor is conducting targeted inspections in all 24 provinces to safeguard workers' rights. There are 74,500 private sector workers and 247,000 public sector workers currently teleworking.

The measures being taken now seek to uphold the rights of workers and employers in order to continue with national production and reduce the impact of the economic crisis that will follow Covid-19.