"In Uruguay, without social protection we were left naked."

Hugo Bai, Uruguayan economist and researcher and member of the PIT-CNT, participated on April 21 in the “Virtual Conversation on Social Security and Pension System” which brought together experts from several countries in the region.

In an interview with CLACSO TV, Hugo Bai stated that, with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, "in Uruguay we realized that without social protection we were left exposed."

Interviewed by Gustavo Lema

Hugo Bai explained that, in his country, “after a long process of about 15 years, during which there was a very significant increase in public social spending, areas such as health were strengthened to a certain extent. Through collective bargaining, a significant increase in the number of workers was achieved, and some computer platforms were developed, what we call the Ceibal Plan, which provided computers and much greater accessibility to all aspects of public education. We also had measures directly in the area of ​​Social Security: expanded unemployment insurance coverage, a very significant increase in sickness insurance subsidies, and an increase in the number and amount of family allowances, which are basically non-contributory transfers to children from the most vulnerable households. And all this strengthening of the welfare state, of social protection, finds us today, to a certain extent, better prepared, at least in relative terms, than Uruguay in the 90s, with a state much more withdrawn from the economy and a much weaker social security and social protection system. Beyond that, this has clearly "There has been a very strong surge in unemployment insurance claims, for example; we are seeing historically high figures, there is no precedent for what we are seeing... which marks the economic standstill caused by social isolation as a result of the pandemic."

Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES Argentina), the Argentine Institute for Economic Development (IADE), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), and the CLACSO Working Group on Social Security and Pension Systems, the First Conversation “Pandemic and Social Security in Latin America. Impacts and Responses. More Welfare State?” conducted a diagnosis of the impact of Covid-19 on Social Security in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay and a survey of the response of national governments.

The discussion was introduced by Karina Batthyány (CLACSO), Svenja Blanke (FES), and Sergio Carpenter (IADE), and moderated by Nicolás Dvoskin (IADE, Social Security and Pension Systems Working Group). Presentations were given by Roxana Mazzola (FLACSO - Argentina), Rosa María Marques (Catholic University of São Paulo - Brazil), Marco Kremerman (Fundación Sol - Chile), Berenice Ramírez (UNAM - Mexico), and Hugo Bai (PIT-CNT - Uruguay).

[+] Thinking about the pandemic