FNT and the Challenges for 2011
NSCAG News |
on: Monday, 28 March 2011
Jose Angel Bermudez, FNT National Coordinator
According to Jose Angel Bermudez, the National Coordinator of the FNT, the major challenges facing the Nicaraguan trade union movement during 2011 are to support the ongoing dialogue between the Sandinista government and the private sector over public investment, labour rights, working conditions and increasing the numbers of workers covered by social security.
The FNT supports the re-election of Daniel Ortega as President of Nicaragua, and of the FSLN as the party of government since losing the elections would mean returning to a right-wing government which would re-impose neoliberal policies that would mean the reduction of pensions and salaries, lead to job losses in the public sector as well as eroding or reversing the hard-fought social gains made by the Sandinista government since 2006. For example, the Sandinistas have achieved economic growth, poverty reduction, social stability, improved law and order, as well as environmental campaigns, increases in the minimum wage and the incorporation of women into politics.
Bermudez also underlined the importance of the fact that in Nicaragua trade unionists elected to parliament are not forced to resign from their trade unions, citing the example of Gustavo Porras, who is both an FNT leader and a member of the National Assembly.
