Colpensiones is a state-owned industrial and commercial company attached to the Ministry of Labour and Finance, set up in 2011 to administer the pensions system, which was previously administered by the Social Security Institute. It started out with 60 employees, but a year later it hired 1,100 workers across the country. Most of them were former employees of the Social Security Institute and the National Social Security Fund (Cajanal).
A collective pact was established at the same time, but without following the procedures established by law, that is, without holding a workers’ assembly or negotiations. The company simply had each new employee sign the pact as a voluntary agreement between the employer and the worker. It included a note explicitly stating that anyone joining a trade union would lose the benefits granted under the pact, which included a bonus paid in June, a productivity bonus and two additional leave days.
The 1,100 employees were not able to cope with the huge workload there has been at Colpensiones since the very beginning, given the inaccuracy of its forecasts: the company had expected to receive between 80,000 and 100,000 files (pension applications) but received almost 300,000. Moreover, the IT application implemented did not work properly. As a result, the employees’ workload and overtime hours (which have not yet been paid) were increased, and the working week was extended to include Saturdays and even Sundays, with the threat of dismissal for anyone failing to show up. In addition, 600 people were hired on fixed-term contracts through a temporary work agency to carry out the same duties as the rest of the staff, but without any job security.
In light of the situation, a group of 30 mostly young workers met in secret, in July 2013, to form a company-level trade union, Sintracolpensiones, which has managed to expand its membership thanks to the support and advice provided by the CUT. It currently has 99 members, according to Johnny Erazo, a labour law student who is part of the union’s executive committee.
The company recognised the union and has engaged in dialogue with it, changing its position with regard to compulsory overtime and the obligation to work Saturdays. The level of harassment and dismissals has diminished, but the company is not moving forward with the negotiation of the list of collective bargaining demands presented by the union in February, which include granting unionised workers the same benefits as those enjoyed under the collective pact, as well as the levelling of pay rates within the company, given that there are employees doing the same job but with a wage difference of almost a million pesos.
The collective pact has not been reviewed as the workers covered by it have not had an opportunity to meet and discuss it, and simply accept what the employer imposes on them. «Our goal is to become a majority union within two or three years so that we can defeat the pact. But this will depend on what happens in the negotiations we are holding,» added Johnny Erazo.