Rousseff reaffirms positive World Cup legacy
President Dilma Rousseff attended a ceremony on Thursday (May 15) for the signing of the National Pact for Employment and Decent Work in the World Cup between employers and trade union federations. In her address, the president said promoting decent work should not be limited to the World Cup.
“In the past, when there was no really decent work in Brazil, people would content themselves with virtually any job, and often lived on informal work,” she said.
According to the president, higher skills and equal employment and income standards pose the greatest challenges for decent jobs in Brazil. “In the case of women, we are still struggling continually to get equal pay for equal work. And our black population has to come to grips with this issue [and also with], a relentless fight against slavery and racism,” she went on.
The aim of the employer-worker pact is to develop initiatives to improve working conditions and fight child labor and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Employers have until August 31 to implement policies to provide quality jobs, promote a solidarity economy, and ensure good safety and health standards in the workplace.
According to a special advisor to the Head of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, José Lopez Feijó, about 1,500 organizations have already joined the pact, for a total 6,000 expected.
By dialoguing with labor groups and employees' representatives, such as the Central Workers' Union (CUT), Rousseff believes the government is showing its willingness to solve the problems instead of evading them.
The president came out in support for the World Cup, saying that the event will leave a legacy that no visitors can take from Brazil when they go back home. “What can they take with them? The certainty that this is a cheerful, hospitable country. This is something they can certainly take with them. But the airports will be ours, the mobility works will be ours, the stadiums will be ours,” she argued. For the president, this what the World Cup is really about.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff reaffirms positive World Cup legacy
