SANTO DOMINGO.- The business sector’s proposal to modify the Labor Code and eliminate several of the workers’ gains, fell on deaf ears in Congress and the unions.

The unions grouped in CNUS warned that a measure of that nature will bring about massive dismissals and erase years of struggle of the working class.

CNUS vice president Rafael Abreu (Pepe) cautioned that the industrialists’ attitude is in retaliation against their sector’s wage increase demands, and hinted at a plan of struggle to counter the management’s intension, because they won’t allow a retreat in labor’s gains.

In that regard, Radhamés Castro, member of the Chamber of Deputy’s Labor Commission, called the proposal untimely, warning that "it would be like throwing a match and a powder keg to the national atmosphere, while sectors are protesting for different demands."

The legislator noted that workers are the most affected in times of crisis, because they lose a standard of living and their jobs, for which it’s the industrialists whom must is to reduce their gains.

He said while they respect employers’ rights, the proposal is unacceptable, and that it’s they who must look for effective formulas to confront the crisis. “If they had given a prize for untimely things in the Casandra (awards), they would’ve won the Soberano (top prize) with this proposal."

During a luncheon with journalists Tuesday the business leaders said the Labor Code needed a modification "to be able to compete and prevent the loss of more than 25,000 jobs."

They requested changes in the two components which make up the severance pay, "because they represent 17.88% of the costs," among other Labor Code provisions they consider outdated given the advances in the Social Security System.