Senate commission approves watered down labor reform ahead of national strike – Colombia News

A commission of Colombia’s Senate approved a watered down labor reform hours before a 48-hour strike that seeks a more radical reform through a referendum.

Liberal Senator Angelica Lozano applauded the reform that salvaged the majority of elements of the reform that was revived by the Senate minutes before it rejected the referendum last week.

The government of President Gustavo Petro and dozens of social organizations have been promoting the referendum since April when the Senate’s social policy commission struck down the original reform bill.

The majority of members of Lozano’s Senate commission approved the watered down reform in an apparent attempt to avoid strikes and the referendum seeking the more radical reform proposed by the government.

In a press statement, the senator said that the watered down reform was “serious and just” and decried Petro’s persistence to hold a referendum as an attempt to advance the left’s 2026 campaign.

Main elements of new labor reform

• Overtime compensation after 7PM instead of 9PM
• Double pay on Sundays and holidays

House Representative Mafe Carrascal, who promoted the labor reform in the lower house, said that concessions made by Lozano and the senatorial opponents of reforms were “a victory of the mobilization of the people.”

Carrascal stressed, however, that some elements of the alternative reform were “very regressive.”

Controversial elements

• Labor contracts per hour
• Denies right to join labor union

Despite the concessions made by the Senate, labor unions and social organizations continued promoting their 48-hour strike that began on Wednesday and seeks the approval of the government’s reform bill through a referendum.

Apart from marches, the labor unions will be organizing community councils and support committees that seek permanent support for the referendum.

Petro and his ministers have expressed their support for the strikes as they seek maximum pressure on Congress, and what the unions call “the oligarchical elites and big business.”