The Minister of Labor, Raquel ‘Kelly’ Olmos, stated that the possibility of the national government granting a end of year bonus is “one of the instruments that we have as an alternative” to improve the purchasing power of workersand highlighted that the unions that have been discussing parity are “achieving a good level of updating” of their salaries.
“It’s something that’s on the negotiating table and I don’t see why not, it’s already one of the instruments we have as an alternative,” the official replied this morning when, in an interview with the online radio station FutuRöck, she was asked about the expressions of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro on the possibility of a bonus.
On Thursday, De Pedro indicated that the vice president, Cristina Kirchner, and the economy minister, Sergio Massa, are evaluating different alternatives for an extra amount: “Sergio is thinking with Cristina of a fixed sum so that those who lost with inflation can recover their level of consumption,” he said in statements to El Destape Radio.
In her statements this Friday, the Minister of Labor affirmed that what worries him in particular is that sum “it can also reach the informal sectors”since, “fortunately, the sectors that are in the parity sector have better conditions to defend themselves”.
“It is more difficult to reach self-employment and the informal sector,” said the minister, stressing that “policies are designed to be able to promote this transition between this type of employment and work with rights, which is the aspiration that we all have.”
On the other hand, the minister analyzed that “it is difficult for income to recover with the vigor that we would like” due to the “inflationary situation” but he stressed that “the parity system is a very vigorous institution in Argentina that affirms a very important democratic dynamic.”
“The negotiation is centrally between the workers’ organizations and those of the business sector,” he asserted, after remarking that this year “more than 2,700 joint agreements” were signed in a dynamic “that has been excellent.”
“This is central to the rrecovery of income in the formal sector but Argentina also has a large self-employment and informal sector,” the minister insisted, for which she highlighted the importance of “breaking high inflation among all.”
Olmos also highlighted as “an achievement” the salary agreement signed Thursday by the Teamsters Union and maintained that “the guilds that are in the parity system achieved a good level of updating.”
“It is an achievement that this partnership has been closed. This 107% covers 16 months and also a bonus of 100 thousand pesos in four installments,” the official remarked, and when asked if that sum will be a “beacon” in the other negotiations collective bargaining, he replied that “each sector negotiates according to its reality and the workers are very aware of that”.
On Thursday, the National Federation of Workers and Truck Drivers, led by Hugo and Pablo Moyano, and the business chambers of the activity agreed in the labor portfolio a wage recomposition in parity of 107% and the payment of a year-end bonus of 100 thousand pesos in four tranches.
