‘Let’s not lie to you, we only live on cheese and rice, we have nothing else to eat’: stories of workers suffering debts from the state

Elvis Macías is a Manabite who arrived in Quito a year ago in search of work. He has been working as a security guard at Gevise, a company that provides services to the state, for four months, but he has not seen his salary: “I came here to look for a job. Now I have a job as a security guard, but I haven’t been paid for two months,” says this 22-year-old with a slightly resigned expression on his face, but not losing his optimism. He assures that he and his mother pay half the rent, water, electricity, in a small house in the Caupicho district, in the south of the capital.

“The situation is very difficult, at the moment, I won’t lie to you, we are only on cheese and rice, we have nothing else to eat”, he says with the shouts of his colleagues who went to the Financial Platform with him a few days ago to protest and ask the Government to respect what is owed.

To make matters worse, his mother’s husband is also a security guard for the state, and he is also unpaid. So it indicates that they don’t know what they are going to do for Christmas. He hoped that they would pay him something by the 24th. But he also thinks of those who are without wages and in a worse situation: “Imagine my colleagues who have children, what they will do. “Children want to have a nice Christmas.” Because of all this, those who provide services to public entities came out to protest.

Like Elvis, many other workers and owners of government utility companies are in a vulnerable situation this time of year.

Marco Mosquera has a family business with his son, wife and two other family members. A company that offers technological equipment such as pills, cameras, GPS, started to be a state supplier since August. At first, they asked for cooperation with the state, convinced that the government would be a good payer, because according to the Law on Public Procurement, payment is made upon delivery of goods or services. Now he thinks it was a bad decision. He says that among their requests was the procurement of equipment for the Ministry of Culture in Cuenza, and they did so on time, in September. Unfortunately, from that month until now, in December, they only have a CUR (payment order) for $20,000, but no actual payment.

This Christmas, his family is not interested in whether they will have something for dinner, “perhaps chicken”, but they are worried about the inability to pay the bank.

Marco also says that the bank is putting pressure on him because he took out a microcredit with more than 20 percent interest for the delivery of the product. “To get the job, we gave the best price, we delivered the equipment at low prices thinking they would pay us right away.” In order not to fall into the bank, they admit that they borrowed from the chulquer.

In this sense, the treatment of suppliers seems to be very unfair, as the government levies fines of $1,000 to $3,000 for each day of delay when the supplier does not meet delivery deadlines. On the other hand, if the government delays payment, nothing happens.

In the Ministry of Finance, they were unofficially told that “there is no money”. What seems inconceivable is that the Public Procurement Service (Sercop), which coordinates the tenders, would allow the procurement without having the money to cancel the supplier. “Are they giving in to fraud against suppliers? If you don’t have money, stop shopping. They are doing well with the money from us.”

In the meantime, the ministry told them that they would be paid with treasury receipts (Cetes) so that they could then negotiate with the fine. At the same time, the state obliges them to make timely payments to the Tax Administration (SRI) and the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS). “We feel in a bubble with no way out and we don’t have an answer,” he says.

From Cuenca, Carlos Luis Calvache Rodas, with his small company of 18 employees CIC Textiles y Distribuciones, is also in a difficult situation these days.

Although he has worked with the state for 15 years and knows that such delays exist, he regrets that there are middle managers who are late without thinking about the damage to creditors. His company, which has some production lines, from the production of sports uniforms, underwear for the health sector, and disposable and disposable medical supplies, is struggling to sustain itself in several aspects.

The Hilando Desarrollo program, in which his company is involved, is reducing the scope, in addition, there are no good sales due to the problem of weaker economic activity in the country, and on the other hand, due to the insolvency of the company. state. He assures that he has been informed that the CURs that arose in September will certainly be paid in 2024.

His company managed to pay workers’ salaries for October a week ago, but owes to suppliers, needs to be up to date with value added tax (VAT), BZV and IESS. He asked his suppliers to extend the payment period due to this situation. He assures that they understood him because they know that “we are all scraping from the same pot”.

It doesn’t sound bad to Carlos Luis that he is being paid with Cetes, but the problem is that with the change of government, the payment agreement has not been finalized. He explains that if there is no prompt payment, it will affect single mothers who are heads of households in Azuay. “I feel abused by the state,” he says and explains that the Government’s failure to respond to claims and their non-payment is a form of aggression and irresponsibility. He adds that, on the contrary, as an employer, he doesn’t care if he doesn’t have a dollar in his pocket, but what he wants is to pay his employees.

For Christmas, their company wanted to do something small, even if it was a meeting to share moments together.

Last December 21, suppliers planned to hold a new rally on the government platform to demand payment. For its part, the ministry said it would look for ways to pay, but admitted its arrears had stretched to nearly $5 billion. As of December 20, the backlog in the goods and services budget was $558 million. The difference is stated because by that date $2.078 million had accumulated in payments to the state, and only $1.520 million had actually been paid.