Union luxuries at FUS: trips and cars with drivers

As previously reported by La Derecha Diario, the scandal at the FUS (Uruguayan Health Federation) is led by the Communist Party unionist, Jorge "Fogata" Bermúdez, who is one of the main union leaders of PIT-CNT.

The contributions to the "Training Fund" ($26 per non-medical worker, equivalent to about $26,000 per month) were deposited into a personal account of Bermúdez at Scotiabank, instead of the institutional account of FUS.

In other words, the money from the workers went to a personal account of the communist unionist, and not to FUS's bank account.

Bermúdez was the main leader of FUS for 27 years. A few months ago, he partially lost power and a new board of directors took over.

The new union leadership publicly denounced him and stated that Bermúdez and another unionist, Héctor Dos Santos, received the contributions to the "Training Fund" in their personal accounts, which is considered "absolutely irregular and illegitimate" according to the union's resolution.

FUS ordered an audit of the last five years to investigate the irregular use of these funds.

It is clear that the money contributed by the workers was used for personal expenses of the union bureaucrats.

Bermúdez's luxuries

After 27 years at the head of FUS, the Communist Party unionist accumulated power and money.

Among his privileges is the exclusive use of a high-end car. It was a 2024 BMW model, with an estimated cost of $68,990.

This vehicle is a true luxury, especially because the rental, fuel and maintenance expenses were covered with union funds.

The BMW had a driver and was available to Bermúdez 24 hours a day. It became known that the communist unionist lives in the Ciudad de la Costa area and traveled to the FUS office, at Luis Sambucetti 2685 and Avenida Italia, almost in front of Parque Batlle, in the luxurious car.

As previously reported by La Derecha Diario, at the FUS office Bermúdez also enjoyed a spacious office equipped with air conditioning, comfortable armchairs and other extremely comfortable features.

Traveling like a king

The program Sin piedad, broadcast by VTV on Wednesday, August 6, reported that Jorge Bermúdez traveled to Switzerland, to the ILO Conference, with a per diem paid by the Ministry of Labor of about $6,264.

In addition, the ministry paid him $1,881 in airplane tickets.

The ministry's money obviously comes from taxpayers who pay taxes.

It is worth remembering that the Minister of Labor is his fellow Communist Party member, Juan Castillo.

But in addition to the per diem and the airplane tickets paid by the ministry, Bermúdez received money from FUS itself for the same trip, about $55,000.

In other words, for spending a few days in Switzerland, he was paid twice. On one hand, he received payment from the ministry, and on the other hand, he received payment from FUS.

Visit to dictator Daniel Ortega

At the end of July, the communist unionist traveled to Nicaragua, where the narco dictator Daniel Ortega rules.

That month, the Nicaraguan dictatorship held a major public event, and Bermúdez did not want to miss the Caribbean narco tyranny's gathering.

He received money from health workers, more than $86,000 in per diems. In other words, the hard-working wage earners paid for his trip so he could go greet a genocidal dictator.

Rich unionist, poor workers

In the private health sector, it is common to work 12 hours a day because wage earners have two jobs.

They generally work 6 hours at one mutual health provider and 6 hours at another. But the communist Jorge Bermúdez has enjoyed union leave for more than 25 years.

In other words, he receives a salary from his workplace but never actually goes to work. In addition to not working and getting paid, he enjoys high privileges that no health worker has access to.

This is the essence of Uruguayan unionism: rich unionists, poor workers.