Personal Assistants ask that “care” be recognized as work, with rights and obligations | Daily Change

By Andrés Torterola
The member of the national directive of personal assistants and regional reference Patricia Bonilla told CAMBIO that in the XIV Congress of the PIT-CNT the document presented by the national directive was approved.
The document states that people need care at some point in their lives, for this reason the right of those who care is essential to guarantee autonomy and development.
In the Uruguayan model, the provision of care falls mainly on women, generating significant opportunity costs and gaps with respect to their male peers.
Patricia Bonilla stated that the aging process of the population together with changes in family structures and in the employment market imply an increase in the demand for care in Uruguay. Specifically, it is observed that, although women have entered the labor market en masse since the 1980s, this did not lead to a redistribution of tasks within households, generating strenuous working hours for Uruguayan women.
PUBLIC POLICY NEEDED
In this framework, that the population receives quality care is a public good considering that care is necessary for social reproduction, reduces social costs in health and increases the quality of life of the population in general. Therefore, it becomes necessary a public policy that reverses these inequalities, guarantees the right to care for the people they care for and their quality.
Bonilla recalled that the National Integrated Care System (SNIC) was created in 2015 and proposes the promotion of the autonomy of people in a situation of dependency, their care and access to quality services through the implementation of public policies from a model of co-responsibility .
On March 2, 2020, the coalition government assumes, President Luis Lacalle Pou appoints Pablo Bartol as Minister of Social Development. In the course of March, through partisan agreements, Daniel Radío of the Independent Party is appointed as National Secretary of Care. On June 30, Radío resigned to occupy the general secretary of the National Drug Board.
Given the Radío decision, the government defines to merge the National Secretariat for Care with the National Disability Program (Pronadis). This was pointed out as a weakening of the SNIC by organizations linked to it.
During the year 2020, the decision taken at the end of the previous government was maintained, not to accept any more applications for the services provided within the framework of the system, in particular Personal Assistants, with the dimension and importance that it has.
90% of the technical resources of the National Secretariat of Care have contracts as sole proprietorships with annual expiration dates. This is a job insecurity for officials who perform structural tasks in a public body, so they should be under the work regime established in Law No. 19,121.