The Confederation of Organizations of State Officials (COFE) published a statement on Tuesday in which they reject the statements of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche, who assured at a press conference that the Uruguayan economy will grow by 3.8% in 2022 and that jobs were recovered while the fiscal deficit was reduced.
According to COFE, the government lowered the salaries of public officials for two years in a row, with the salary adjustment being 4.41% on January 1, 2021, while inflation in 2020, measured by the evolution of the Price Index to the Consumer, was 9.41%. This being the case, COFE understands, the “salary loss” was 5%.
They also explain that, since the salary adjustment of January 1, 2022 was 7%, if it is compared with the evolution of the CPI for the year 2021, which was 7.96%, the loss of purchasing power would be almost 1%. .
“In two years, accumulating the wage loss, the government lowered wages by more than 6%. This salary reduction means a cut of more than 400 million dollars, which has a direct impact on salary income,” the statement added.
Different vision from the government
With these salary reductions, says the union body, the workers felt a cut of about 18 daily wages, equivalent to “$18,000 reduction in the year in a salary” of $30,000, “to which must be added the effect on the bonus”. It is added that in 2022 “this cut will be 23 days a year, which represents an annual loss” of 23,000 pesos.
“For the government, the salary reduction means recovering lost salary, a conception that we totally reject. To recover salary, the salary adjustment must, first of all, be equal to inflation. What exceeds this percentage will be recovery, something that has not happened since the current government took office,” they added, alluding to the government’s way of seeing things regarding salary.
