Breathe
By Adela Navarro
On Monday, January 13, before receiving their first fortnight of the year, employees of the Baja California State Attorney General's Office received a splash of cold water, the weight of which makes it difficult for them to make it through the month. On that date, by means of a memorandum, they were informed that as of the fortnightly payable on the 14th, that is to say, one day after the notification, they would receive discounts for beneficiaries registered with Issstecali, apart from the incumbent: 250 pesos for each one.
For example, the agents of the State Citizen Security Force (FESC) who run the risk of accidents, attacks, persecutions and threats, even in their homes, since many of them have been attacked in their homes and have lost family members as in 2008, when assassins shot Margarito Saldaña's home, killing him, his wife and one of his daughters, if those agents had as additional in their earned right to social security, the wife and two children, 750 pesos per fortnight will be deducted from their salary. If they have parents, then add 250 pesos more for each one.
The Social Security Law indicates that a beneficiary of this right, affiliated for example to the Mexican Social Security Institute and who contributes the same amount as the employer, has the right to affiliate parents, spouses and minor children to this guaranteed health service, as well as those of legal age, only if they are still dependent and continue with their professional studies.
But in Baja California, the employees of the FGE and the government are affiliated to Issstecali, an institution in bankruptcy due to the mismanagement of the governments, either by the non-payment of the quotas of the workers of the State and Municipalities, or by the bad administration of the resources in past and current governments.
In order to survive, given that Governor Marina Avila Olmeda has not achieved consensus to reform the Issstecali Law and try to put some order in the battered institution that, drowning in deficit, intends to maintain itself by increasing workers' quotas, now the FGE must contribute.
On ZETA' s website (www.zetatijuana.com) we published a note revealing the abusive discount to the employees of the FGE a day before it was made effective. And what happened inside the corporation, they say it was a persecution by the top management to find the person who disclosed the information and change his or her assignment.
This is the FGE's way of "punishing" or repressing agents and collaborators, changing their commission, assignment and even municipality. If someone is in Tijuana and has done something that has bothered "the bosses", they send him or her to Paralelo 28 and there to see what he or she does.
Of course the agents and other workers of the FGE are upset with this situation, they consider it unfair and rightly so that they cannot have the right to social security for their families as required by law and that now they must pay for it as if it were a private insurance for major medical expenses, when in fact Issstecali's attention is of very poor quality.
At a time when the governors and heads of the areas of security, prevention, protection and law enforcement refer to the need to dignify the work of the police, in Baja California, the governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda and the state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade are making the conditions of those who work in the FGE even more precarious, by forcing them to receive discounts of 250 pesos per each beneficiary, in addition to the Issstecali social security and health insurance, and, internally in the prosecutor's office, those who reveal information or attempt to protest against the unjust and unilateral discount agreement are being intimidated.
If that were not serious enough, on Tuesday, January 14, agents of the FGE and other collaborators and employees of the prosecutor's office did not receive their first fourteenth month's salary as required by law for the work performed. They were not paid. The money they have earned in the first fourteen days of the year for their work, was not deposited to their accounts, and when they went to ask why they had not received their salary, the indolent answer of the authority was simply that the institution "had no money and was in readjustments".
In addition, at around three o'clock in the afternoon they were warned: "And don't even think of demonstrating, because you will be transferred. Payments will be released during the course of the day".
Of course, annoyed by the lack of payment, the agents began to list other complaints about their actions within the institution, such as extended working hours (without payment of overtime), work on holidays (without paying them according to the law), and in some cases, the demand for "quotas" for agents working on the street, which usually exceed the requirement of payment of 4 thousand pesos.
The agents began to receive their salaries until the night of Wednesday, January 15, with discounts ranging from 250 to 1,500 pesos, depending on the number of social security affiliates they have. But they are not complaining, subject to punishment.
This is how things are at the Baja California FGE, which is gaining a reputation as a poorly paid and repressive agency.
*Editor of the weekly ZETA
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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