Foundation Tierra de Esperanza Rejects Union Proposal, Imposes Unilateral Terms on All Workers

Original article: Final aplastante: Fundación Tierra de Esperanza usurpa propuesta de sindicato y la extiende a todos los trabajadores, negándose a la negociación colectiva By Camila Sierra M. Last Wednesday, following the collective bargaining process involving the workers’ union at the Foundation Tierra de Esperanza, the organization opted not to ratify a strike, despite the company’s refusal to concede on any of the requested points. These included improvements in transportation and meal allowances, as well as interregional travel for work purposes, which the union leaders described as «minimum standards.

» The union’s decision came after the foundation declined all worker proposals, even with labor inspection acting as a mediator due to the company’s persistent refusal throughout the negotiation process. According to lawyer Miguel Downey from the Popular Defense, “the foundation maintained a rather uncompromising and rigid stance throughout the process. They refused to improve the collective contract.

Thus, on Wednesday, April 22, the assembly decided that the union should use the authority given by Article 342 of the Labor Code, to sign a collective agreement equivalent to the baseline for negotiation, but with a duration of 18 months to renegotiate. This decision stems from the foundation’s inflexible stance. ” This means that the workers’ union accepts the minimal baseline, which implies maintaining the conditions achieved during the previous mobilization, with the intention to return to negotiations after 18 months.

“This sets a poor precedent,” emphasizes Claudia Bustamante, a union leader. “We are forced to accept these deficient conditions, submitting to discussions about the employment relationship directly with your boss, which will never be the same,” she adds decisively. In this context, union leaders question not only the contractual conditions regarding the agreed-upon «benefits» but also the ongoing labor precariousness faced by social workers daily.

“We should not normalize responses from companies that are so precarious and authoritarian,” Bustamante points out. This is significant because, despite the mediation of the Labor Inspection, the Foundation Tierra de Esperanza—known for working since 1997 with over 5,000 girls, boys, and adolescents to ensure they feel supported, protected, and defended against injustice and lack of opportunities—ignored the economic demands of its workers, even though fulfilling these demands would directly improve the quality of services provided to the children and adolescents benefiting from its programs. Minimum Standards, Maximum Precariousness “A strike process is one where your body is put under pressure.

It is an invitation to rethink ourselves, to reassess our working conditions, and to realize that we are workers just like everyone else. Just because we’ve had the chance to study at a university doesn’t make us any less of workers than others,” Bustamante expresses. This is particularly relevant for workers from outside the Metropolitan Region who must serve children and adolescents who do not always reside in the city or locality where they work.

They are forced to travel to other territories with per diems that they describe as “very low,” often having to stay away from home to meet the quantitative intervention goals required by the service, without the necessary conditions provided by the foundation. To offset this situation, the foundation provides one compensatory day, which must be taken on a date designated by the company, half a day in other cases, or, if none is granted for overnight stays away from home, this is considered a disguise, offering some «work flexibility» at the cost of deeply compromising working conditions. “All these situations respond to a necessity to concede without dignity, so to speak, giving in with all flexibility, which is what employers have historically done—flexibilizing work in exchange for losing already obtained benefits,” Bustamante explains.

The union not only raised the need for economic improvements but also highlighted issues surrounding health and freedom of association. “We work with mental health, so when we discuss the mental health crisis, it is precisely this crisis: how resources reach people or the lowest strata of the pyramid, which are ultimately the users and the workers,” Bustamante states. The Foundation Tierra de Esperanza has a «Benefits Manual,» which includes a «winter benefit» allowing workers to take two sickness days without salary deduction from May to September for illness of the worker, not including illness of dependents.

The union demanded that this benefit be increased to three days and extended throughout the year for unionized workers. However, the company extended the winter benefit to three days from May to September for all employees instead. Regarding this measure, Miguel Downey mentions that it «constitutes a way to undermine the union, suggesting that benefits will always originate from the foundation.

» Ultimately, the call from the organized workers of Foundation Tierra de Esperanza is to strengthen their union: “I believe unions today must respond to democracy, a rather neoliberal democracy. The space you are given is very small and limited, but we must strive to break through, or at least challenge, thinking also about a form of unionism for ourselves, for the workers,” asserts leader Claudia Bustamante passionately. The Business of Childhood The foundation’s refusal to meet economic demands relates to its unwillingness to review the 2024 – 2025 accounting balance, along with the petty cash.

The company’s argument, according to union workers, has always been «that there was no money available for that,» referring to financial oversight mandated by the state. However, the outsourcing of these services reflects the reduction of state capacity, meaning it cannot independently manage these programs it delegates. This does not imply the state allocates less money for these programs, but when outsourced, the budget distribution, even if it aligns with what is contracted, still depends on the executing entity.

According to the public balance for 2024 (found on the foundation’s website), they are projected to receive around 20 billion pesos for executing 88 programs across the regions of Tarapacá, Antofagasta, O’Higgins, Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Metropolitana. The same balance mentions that 70% of the total received is designated for salaries, amounting to nearly 13 billion pesos, which should be distributed among the monthly salaries of the nearly one thousand workers employed by the foundation. According to the same balance, 2.

69% would be allocated to the salaries of senior executives. Considering the six individuals identified on the website, Simona De la Barra Cruzat, Leoncio Toro Araya, Carlos Contzen Fuentes, Gonzalo Sandoval Zambrano, Felipe Venegas Pozo, and Rafael Mella Gallegos, they would each earn around 7 million pesos if all mentioned figures are taken into account. Camila Sierra M.