This Latin American country needs foreign labour but thousands of workers are facing low salaries, a lack of job security, difficulties in having their qualifications recognised and barriers to obtaining employment appropriate to their training.
Orlando Oramas
Uruguay practises an open door policy to immigration in the context of a low birth rate and a need for a productive force which is beyond the current population of just under 3.5 million inhabitants.
This policy attracts thousands of migrants, many from Caribbean countries, but also Argentinians, Peruvians and some from overseas, hoping for a friendly labour market, although the reality for many of them turns out to be different. There are numerous job adverts for roles like “deliverys”, shelf stackers, kitchen assistants and cleaners, to name a few. Immigrants are the least protected sector, mainly because of the need to get “a first gig” and then because it is so difficult to move up.
The figure for foreigners who make social security contributions is around 6.5% of formal employment, according to data from the Banco de Previsión Social. But 80% of the migrant population ends up placed in sectors like services and commerce, which are highly informal, a phenomenon that also affects a significant part of the native population.
Moreover, those who arrive from abroad work more than the native population because the market creates spaces for them in the most precarious posts.
This is what Laura Martínez sets out. She is a member of the executive secretariat of the trade union federation PIT-CNT, which has a commission dedicated to defending the employment rights of those who choose to live here and to unionising them as a form of protection. Martínez spoke to the press about the subject.
She says that those who arrive manage to find positions with low salaries demanding a greater number of working hours per week. Examples that stand out, among others, are those employed in digital platforms, for which read IT and communications professionals.
She adds another difficulty when it comes to recognising professional qualifications and gives the example of Cubans and Venezuelans, many of whom are highly qualified.
“This means that when they start a job linked to services they tend to stay there longer than they should given their education”, she says, referring to doctors, engineers and other professionals.
Martínez mentions the difficulties faced by female migrants, particularly those who have children and are the heads of their families. They often work as cleaners or carers with fragile job security.
The country of origin also has implications. Dominicans and Peruvians more often work in domestic jobs, in particular ones with a bed included, which means that they practically live where they work.
These are forms of exploitation, Martínez underlines, and she recognises the ignorance of and non-compliance with employment law on the part of the employers.
They take advantage of the urgency of work and pressure workers not to organise into unions or join organisations. They ask them to work more or to carry out tasks that perhaps natives would not do, among other reasons because they know about collective agreements and the law. A recent survey by the research company Equipos Consultores revealed that 42% of Uruguayans consider that the arrival of immigrants harms the country, while 37% believe it is beneficial. The remaining 16% responded that it does not cause a clear effect or that it has a neutral impact. 5% did not respond.
The PIT-CNT representative plays these numbers down but she recognises the scourges that affect immigrants: “We strive through our union work to tackle the real barriers faced by migrants and, therefore, tolerance and integration… We know that with migratory waves we must face up to hate speech and fight racism and xenophobia, which are real.
“We have to explain to them the idiosyncrasy of our organisation in Uruguay which is different to other countries on the continent. That’s why on the union agenda we have the defence of their rights and confronting the logic of exploitation and pressures that play on necessity which explain the low level of unionisation”.
Laura Martínez mentions that there are government policies covering migrants “but they require resources that at times they don’t have or are insufficient”.
(Translated by Philip Walker – Email: philipwalkertranslation@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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