500 thousand gastronomic jobs are in danger and wages cannot be paid

The general secretary of the gastronomic union, Luis Barrionuevo, said he is “very concerned” that his sector is the most “hit and affected” as a result of the mandatory isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, but considered that the sanitary measures adopted so far by President Alberto Fernández “are correct”.

“We are 500,000 who work in the country in restaurants, hotels, bars, tourism, and all of this is practically stopped, not only in Argentina, in the world, that’s why the concern is great, and we believe that, once the pandemic passes, the recovery will also be very slow, “Barrionuevo warned.

The union leader commented that he works with the business chambers of his sector “to reach agreements so that they face part of the salaries of April and May, and that the other part can be covered with the facilities that the Government has given, with credits 24% and Repro “, the program that provides a monthly sum equivalent to the minimum, vital and mobile salary.

In that sense, he confided that his own union, the Uthgra, which has about 2,000 employees, will have trouble paying their future salaries. “We raise about 500 million a month between the union and the social work, and now that is at zero”Barrionuevo graphed.

“Our sector is surely going to be the last to recover for two reasons: first, because the fear in people of wanting to go out to restaurants, of getting together, after the experience, will subsist for a while, and we will also have to wait for the purchasing power in general is recovered, to achieve an adequate level of activity, “explained the union leader.

Barrionuevo affirmed that his union abides by the sanitary measures ordered by President Fernández, which he described as “very successful so far”.

“There is a sacrifice to be made, first there is human life, and then we will see how we recover. This is not a political failure, this is an unprecedented world situation“emphasized the leader.

I also emphasize that the President “is handling the entire health issue very well”, but announced that he hopes that the head of state will call the business chambers of his sector, “the most affected”, to see other forms of aid from the state to gastronomic activity.

Finally, according to Télam, Barrionuevo was against applying a tax to big capital: “No taxes, they bring that money from outside, with that we could reactivate the country much faster, “concluded the leader.

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