Peru labour law sparks backlash from enraged youth amid calls for repeal
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Version 0 of 1. Thousands of young Peruvians have marched through central Lima, chanting: “We don’t want to be cheap, exploited manpower”, in the latest protest against a controversial labour law which demonstrators claim robs them of basic rights, but which the government argues will boost employment. Thursday’s march, which was joined by trade unionists, ended in a violent standoff with police, who fired tear gas at the protesters. About 20 people were arrested and 16 officers injured, according to the interior ministry. There was no immediate information on whether any protesters were injured. Dubbed the “Ley Pulpín”, or Pulpín Law, the youth employment law’s derogatory moniker has its origins in a brand of fruit juice that is targeted at children and often carried in school lunch boxes. The term “Pulpín” has come to mean an innocent or immature young person who can be exploited. The law came into effect in mid-December and has been opposed bitterly by many of the 18-24-year-olds it is intended to benefit. The protest in Lima was mirrored in 10 other cities, and there has been an outpouring of criticism on social media. The law aims to foster the creation of jobs by lowering costs for employers who hire young people. Holiday entitlement will be cut from 30 to 15 days, social security and life insurance will be reduced, and two annual bonuses and severance pay will disappear. The government insists the law will enable many young people to join the formal economy because companies will be encouraged by the lower costs to create more jobs for young workers who lack experience. But many of those targeted say the legislation simply allows companies to exploit young people. “We’re standing up for our rights, faced with a government that wants to suppress us by taking away our labour rights,” said Katerina Troncos, a 23-year-old journalism student, as she marched in Lima. PR student Carla Montoya, 21, said: “This law affects me personally. Even if we are on staff, this law cuts a load of our rights. We hope it will be repealed: if it’s not, there could a general strike.” Julio Arbizu, Peru’s former anti-corruption prosecutor, agrees. “We must tell the government that these are rights. They’re not benefits or the employers’ acts of generosity. They are rights that our fathers and grandfathers won in the streets and these rights are inalienable,” he said as he took part in Thursday’s march. As the march unfolded, hackers known as @anonymousperu downed a dozen Peruvian state websites, including those of the Congress and the interior ministry, in coordinated cyber attacks. The World Bank describes Peru as one of South America’s fastest growing economies, pointing out that poverty rates were more than halved between 2005 and 2013, from about 45% to 24 % of the population. However, growth last year was hit by a drop in manufacturing and a slowdown in mining, which accounts for about 15% of GDP. So far, President Ollanta Humala’s government has rejected calls to repeal the controversial law. Such action would amount to the Peruvian state “turning its back on those 1.8 million young people who today have nothing and with this law could successfully enter the labour market, improving their ability, education, their CVs and, as a result, their employability,” said the labour minister, Fredy Otárola, on the eve of the latest protest. The youth employment law would also oblige companies to provide on-the-job training and help employees to complete their education, he said. But critics say the Pulpín law is a heavy-handed effort to exploit the young. The campaign has been joined by several local celebrities, ensuring coverage and increasing the pressure. “The government says that a big portion of Peruvian youth don’t have [labour] rights so they will give them something. That’s their argument … that, in a democracy, is unacceptable,” said the actor Jason Day. Other critics claim the law’s true beneficiary is big business. Javier Neves, a professor of labour law at Lima’s Pontifical Catholic University, said Peru’s powerful, private industry employer’s confederation, CONFIEP, had lobbied for the new labour law. “The government has looked for a way to hide this by saying that the law will improve training for young people and promote their employability, but it’s not really trying to achieve this. What it’s trying to do is drastically reduce labour costs for medium-sized and big businesses,” he said. Neves said the perception that there is an unemployment crisis among 18-24 year-olds is also false. He cited official statistics showing that between 2008 and 2013 employment among 18-24 year-olds rose from 25% to 63% % while underemployment dropped from 65% to 28%. “This is a rushed, mendacious law which should be repealed. Young people will be able to better insert themselves in a labour market when there’s a real investment in quality education,” he said. The law will be debated in Congress on 28 January and, until then, protesters are likely to keep up the pressure on the streets of Lima and other cities, as well as on social media. |