Good news, SENA’s staff will grow: more than 1,000 new permanent positions
July 25 was no ordinary Tuesday for the workers of the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA). After several years of demanding the national government to adopt measures to strengthen the institution, Decree 1233 was finally issued, through which the expansion of SENA’s staff is now a reality.
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This was announced by the SENA Union (Sindesena) on Thursday, July 27, through a public statement. In this, the organization stated that the measure is due to the management of the union and the national committee of temporary workers, which completes more than six years.
“Through mobilization we achieved the expansion of 1152 positions for SENA and that the collective agreements for the provision of such positions be respected”, the organization assured on its Twitter account.
Mediante movilización logramos la ampliación de 1.152 cargos para el @SENAComunica y que se respeten los acuerdos colectivos para la provisión de dichos cargos.
— Sindicato del SENA (@sindesenacol) July 26, 2023
Gran logro de @SindeSENACol y @TemporalesSENA#SindeSENAesUnión✊🏼 pic.twitter.com/RNjSB2Nmtn
There will be 1,152 new permanent positions for the expansion of SENA’s staff, which will be strengthened with the positions of Deputy Director of the Center, Professionals, Instructors and Technicians. The decision will be effective as of October 1, 2023, states the Decree.
The General Director of SENA, Jorge Eduardo Londoño Ulloa, joined the celebration for the expansion of SENA’s staff, which seeks to strengthen the institution through the stability of workers.
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¡La ampliación de planta de personal en el @SENAComunica es una realidad! Luego de mucho trabajo y esfuerzo, me complace comunicar que esta conquista es una realidad. El #GobiernoDelCambio le cumple a la dignificación del trabajo y a los empleados temporales. pic.twitter.com/aC9wogg79c
— Jorge Eduardo Londoño Ulloa (@JorgeELondonoU) July 26, 2023
The story behind the expansion of the SENA’s staff
According to Sindesena’s statement, the expansion of SENA’s staff is a demand that the union and the National Temporary Committee have been promoting since 2016, after a collective agreement signed in 2015 was breached.
That year, workers held a 37-day strike that resulted in the creation of eight hundred temporary positions and the expansion of the SENA staff with three thousand permanent positions.
With this achievement, the workers developed actions to formalize the temporary positions. These actions were embodied in a collective agreement in 2021. In addition, and with the purpose of concretizing the agreements into decisions, they mobilized to get entities such as the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Administrative Department of the Civil Service, the National Planning Department and the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic to support the creation of a decree.
Finally, and after six years of negotiations, which sought to make the 800 temporary positions permanent, SENA workers achieved the expansion of SENA’s staff, with the creation of 1,152 positions that include instructors and professionals for three programs: AgroSENA; Research, Technological Development and Innovation System (SENNOVA), and Bilingualism.
In addition, Sindesena affirms that the “decree respects the union agreements, preserving the learning curves of the employees appointed on a temporary basis as they may be incorporated on a provisional basis, once the legal provisions regarding preferential rights are complied with”, stated the organization.
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