Moyano’s CGT set to demand 25 percent pay increase

Representatives of Hugo Moyano’s anti-government CGT umbrella union grouping yesterday reaffirmed that their organization will demand a “25-percent” general wage hike at the imminent wage negotiations, while the vice-president of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) employers’ grouping, Daniel Funes de Rioja, avoided mentioning specific percentages. The latter also expressed his opposition to the rumoured desire of unions for repeated wage negotiations throughout the year.

The press officer for Antonio Caló’s government-aligned CGT umbrella union grouping, Eduardo Daer, also denied an intention to promote more frequent wage negotiations, which has been supported by unions seeking a sharp adjustment of salaries according to constant inflation, although there was unanimous agreement with Funes de Rioja on the priority of seeking that the government raise the tax floor for income tax “before the beginning of the cycle of the majority of wage negotiations in March.”

With regard to increasing the frequency of wage negotiations, Funes de Rioja insisted such a measure would be unnecessary because “all negotiations are signed with a clause ensuring re-discussion if variables are exceeded.”

In this context, Labour Minister Carlos Tomada will today meet with representatives of the bank employees’ union, La Bancaria, and the employers’ chambers to have them inform workers on the “content, application and duration of the pre-wage negotiation agreement” planned for January 24, which consists of the payment of 1,444 pesos between January and March and the one-off tax-free payment of 770 pesos.

Juan Carlos Schmid, a director of Moyano’s CGT, opined differently, asserting “each negotiation table has a unique dynamic, each union and (employer) chamber discuss production, the economic situation and the affiliation of the workers.” The Dredging workers’ union leader added that wage negotiations ceased to be “free” with the imposition of an “external element,” and that any wage hikes belowe 25 percent would be “unacceptable.”

Herald staff with DyN