Global Courant
SUBSCRIBERS EXCLUSIVE
The most powerful unions are already discussing the increases for the July-September period. The Uocra agreed to 30% and accumulates 58% in the semester. Annualized increases exceed 110%, but continue to lag behind inflation.
The banker Sergio Palazzo put himself first a month ago when he reviewed the quarterly agreement for the activity and stretched the salary increase to 66% for the first 6 months of the year, exceeding the 60% ceiling that Sergio Massa had imagined setting for all parities for the whole year.
With the same aspiration, as of this week the large unions of the CGT began to reopen their respective agreements in a scheme that supposes annualized increases above 110%, although still lagging behind private estimates that project inflation of around 150 % by 2023.
The process of reviewing the parities already underway has, in any case, an undisguisable wink from the Minister of Economy and brand new presidential candidate for Unión por la Patria. The bulk of the new agreements -although with a parameter of increases that exceeds the average of previous agreements- will be signed for a period of three months (July-September) that will coincide with the main process of the campaign, which will clear up the concern about a horizon of greater conflict at a key moment for Massa’s electoral plans.
Massa, launched into the campaign, has the support of the union leadership.
In addition, reopenings seek to offset past inflation. Thus, the salary increases agreed for short periods if they are annualized are still below the estimated price increase for all of 2023. “There is some expectation that some prices may begin to slow down, we will have to wait. If that does not happen, it will be resolved in each negotiation”, they affirm from the CGTE leadership, aligned with the minister’s presidential adventure.
New increase in construction
With these background elements, the head of the UOCRA and one of the main leaders of the workers’ union, Gerardo Martínez, signed the review of the sectoral parity on Monday. The agreement sealed with the representatives of the Chamber of Construction (Camarco) set an increase of 29.6% for the July-September quarter in three cumulative tranches (10% in July, 9% from August and 8% in September).
The agreement also established the creation of a special commission for the permanent monitoring of economic and sector variables with the power to reopen the discussions before the completion of the understanding (September 30) in the event of an unforeseen acceleration in the level of inflation.
Gerardo Martínez, head of the UOCRA, stretched the semi-annual increase for construction workers to 58%.
The new increase, which benefits some 430,000 construction workers, was added to the 22% increase also in a staggered scheme that had been agreed upon in the sectoral negotiation for the April-June period, with which the (cumulative) rise to the first half of the deal rounds out a 58% improvement.
Two key negotiations
On a similar parameter for the new parity period, two other key agreements began to be negotiated in recent days: that of the metallurgical industry, which usually functions as the reference for the rest of the activities of the manufacturing sector, and that of commercial employees , the largest in the private sector, involving the salaries of more than 1.2 million workers.
In the first of these negotiations, the union of the UOM, led by the Kirchnerist Abel Furlán, demanded a cumulative 30% increase for the July-September quarter, with the inclusion of a fixed sum of $60,000, and awaits the response of representation of the six chambers of activity. The previous period of the parity, valid between April and June, had closed with a rise of 18.8% in three tranches.
In the case of the mercantile parity, which is negotiated by the union led by Armando Cavalieri, the bet is to agree on an additional increase, effective between July and September, which raises the semi-annual percentage of recomposition above 50%. In April the sector signed a quarterly increase of 19.5% that was implemented in three equals of 6.5% and brought the basic salary of the activity as of June to $220,000.
Héctor Daer, head of Health, agreed to a 50% increase for 6 months for personnel in the healthcare sector.
In the same parameter, that is to say, an increase of 50%, the CGT triumvirate Héctor Daer had signed in April the negotiation of the Health agreement with the care sector (prepaid, clinics and sanatoriums), in one of the few semi-annual agreements of the current parity round. Now the union must discuss the revision of the quarterly agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and drugstores to replicate a similar increase at a minimum.
Moyano returns to the charge
Another of those who is betting on reopening his joint venture this month is the head of Truckers, Hugo Moyano. The trade unionist, who signed an increase in 4 tranches of 107% last October, asked at the beginning of May to review the understanding, but in the face of the business refusal, he ended up agreeing to an extraordinary contribution from the companies to the union’s social work, which guarantees him a additional income of $4,000 million for one semester.
But given the acceleration of inflation in April and May, Moyano Sr. will return to the charge to advance the payment of the last tranche of the current agreement (26% expected with August wages) and negotiate an additional increase to offset the price rise, they anticipated. from the leadership environment.
