Bolivia: new Labor Code directly draws from workers and social partners’ proposals

The reform of Bolivian labor law is going to contain the requests directly presented by workers and the social partners. Indeed, to write the new Labor Code, the draft presented by the government will have to be amended to include the proposals workers sent the Labor Ministry as well as the text developed by the Bolivian Workers’ Center (Central Obrera Boliviana, COB). The country’s key union took the responsibility of gathering and laying out the proposals and suggestions for amendments to the General Labor Act sent by its members. In addition, over one thousand ideas were submitted by April 8th – the deadline – to the Ministry’s regional delegations. These requests, recommendations and observations to enhance the reform could come from the public and the private sector, from unions, from social organizations or individual workers, as well as from employers. They will be analyzed by a tripartite legal committee made up of representatives from the government, the COB and the Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs of Bolivia (Confederación de Empresas Privadas de Bolivia, CEPB). This committee will have to put together the final draft of the text, which will then be sent to the Congress for approval.