Although the Board of Directors of the Congress announced the suspension of the minutes authorizing the salary increase for the deputies, there is no administrative instruction that, for the moment, stops a third disbursement by the end of April. An opinion of the legal department of Congress establishes that the reversal of the increase can only be reversed if the plenary approves, as explained by a member of the board.
The deputies received the salary increase during February and March. A third payment, as listened to in the parliamentary corrillos, would allow them to defend the benefit as an acquired labor law.
In November of last year, the Plenary of the Congress authorized the increase with which the base salary of the deputies went from Q29 thousand 150 to ranges between Q61 thousand 300 to Q97 thousand 300. The highest remuneration for corresponding to the president of Congress, Nery Ramos.
“Act 21, in my opinion, is still valid. I was not summoned to the session of the Board of Directors where the possibility of suspending the salary increase is discussed,” said Juan Carlos Rivera, third secretary of the Board of Directors.
He added that “they (the rest of the directive) requested an opinion to the legal department of the Congress to establish whether the Board of Directors has the powers to suspend the increase in salary. Legal responds that, as the order was emanating from the Plenary, the Board of Directors does not have the legal powers to suspend something that emanates from the plenary.”
In the press conference on March 25, the first vice president, Jorge Castro, said they would make the decision to suspend it. The document was asked for the document with the decision, but did not answer his cell phone. When making the social communication requirement of the legislative agency, they indicated that they do not have access to such documents.
It is still valid
Other legislative sources, which preferred anonymity, also confirmed the existence of the opinion of the legal department. Under that circumstance, the decision of the directive would have no effect for the suspension of the salary increase, as ensured in the press conference headed by Deputies Ramos and Castro.
Based on this legal criterion and in the absence of sessions to boost a motion so that the full reversed the increase, at the end of April, the Congress will have to issue the payments with the current increase.
“I imagine that the Board of Directors will have to comply with what the law says, so we present an agreement to repeal it in the plenary, because it is the last form. Surely, if it is not done, there will be another payment with an increase in April,” said Samuel Pérez, leader of the ruling party.
For Pérez, there are clear intentions in some deputies not to meet, because they do not want to lose the salary increase. Julio Héctor Estrada, deputy of the Finance Commission, said he has seen discomfort in some colleagues, but ensures that the salary issue is something that compensate exclusively to manage the directive of the Congress.
“One intuits that there are discomfort because of the way in which the issue of salary and the management of the legislative agenda have been administered, so in block leaders they have been absent,” said Estrada.
The Congress has not had full sessions for three weeks. The first of them, for the blockages that opposed the payment of mandatory vehicle insurance for traffic accidents.
While, in the later two weeks, most block leaders did not reach the meetings and the agenda projects for weekly sessions were not approved.
They look for time
Analysts consider that deputies will seek any argument so as not to give up the economic benefit, including justifying the increase as a labor law.
But three sources consulted ensure that deputies are not employed, so a justification in this sense would only seek to delay a repeal that, in their opinion, is inevitable.
“If they are workers, there is nothing to discuss, it is already an acquired right and they can demand it, but the deputy has no specific functions to justify that it is an acquired right,” according to the expert lawyer in work issues Percy Méndez.
Manfredo Marroquín, of Citizen Action, also assures that, because they are not workers, they cannot justify their salary increase as a right. But he is aware that some deputies will seek to alter the truth and interpretation of the laws so as not to give up their benefit.
“I do not see those arguments because they are not employees, they are elected officials, they have a period and an end; it is not that they are used for an indefinite term, and that is where they obtain salary obligations.”
Pablo Guerra, Coordinator of Citizen Participation of the National Civic Movement (MCN) also, sees that deputies will only seek to gain time to evade public pressure and try to forget the issue.
“We are days after Holy Week and they will go with the increase in the suitcase, but, returning from Holy Week, in just three weeks the congress will finish its first session. We are talking about an increase in salary of several months,” concluded the analyst.
They are not employees
The Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala and the Labor Code indicate that a deputy is not employed. Therefore, justifying the increase as an acquired right would be a defense without arguments, the sources point out.
The deputies are not subject to a relationship of legal and economic subordination, as if an employee is, according to article 18 of the Labor Code.
In addition, its remuneration is not derived from a contract, since its position is constitutional. The role of deputies also has a political – administrative nature, it is even regulated by a special law, in this case the organic law of the legislative body.
Due to the legal classifications, deputies cannot be considered workers in the technical sense of labor law; They are not protected under the Labor Code; And they also have no workers’ benefits such as compensation, vacations or a maximum working day.