Bogota, Colombia – The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, pressed Thursday with his plan with difficulties in reviewing the country’s labor laws, sending to Congress a referendum proposal whose questions for voters include whether the working days should be limited to eight hours and if workers should receive double payment if they work during the holidays.
With much of his agenda repeatedly blocked by Congress, Petro is now betting that the legislators who twice rejected their labor reform will allow voters to decide if they want their proposed changes. The Congress has a month to approve or reject the 12 -questions referendum.
Petro, the first leftist president of Colombia, sought to gather support for his project by participating in a union demonstration in the capital, Bogotá, marking Labor Day.
“The people of Colombia want to vote for their fundamental rights, for their dignity,” Petro said before thousands of protesters, asking them not to vote to re -elect any legislator who votes against the referendum.
If legislators approve, Petro will have to issue a decree that summons Colombians to surveys within three months. Voting questions would include whether daytime work days should end at 6 pm and if open contracts must be offered to prioritize work stability.
But overcoming Congress is not Petro’s only concern to see that his project becomes a reality. He needs the referendum participation to exceed 13 million, that is more than the number of votes he obtained to become president, and more than half of those votes must be in favor of his proposal.
Analysts agree that Petro has the advantage in several scenarios, even if the Congress does not approve the referendum or if it does not obtain the necessary votes in the surveys. In the old scenario, Sandra Borda, professor of Political Science at the University of Los Andes, said that legislators would give the Petro government the tools to “play the victim” and strengthen her rhetoric against Congress.
“The message that the government has constantly tried to send is that Congress is no longer an entity that represents the interests of the people … but defends interest, as they call them, of the private sector oligarchies,” said Borda.
On the other hand, if the voters end up going to the polls, the government could be considered the winner by obtaining the support of his electoral base, said Javier Garay, a professor of political science at the University of Prometry of Colombia. He pointed out that the underlying purpose of the referendum is to prove the government’s electoral support before the 2026 presidential elections.
The members of the Union who were among the thousands of people who demonstrated Thursday in Bogotá expressed their support for the referendum.
“The referendum is a claim of workers’ rights, which have been a fight for decades and the previous right governments have taken us removed,” said Jesús Parra, 53, one of the protesters.
