In the parity, the Province arranged to advance the payment of the increase scheduled for July/Government
The inflationary shot broke all forecasts. Even the parity negotiation that the Buenos Aires government had finished closing with the unions in the first days of March. The sealed agreement that involved paying a 40 percent salary increase for the first seven months of the year was virtually pulverized and the Province had to finally agree to the unions’ claim to recompose income in relation to the increase in the cost of living.
Yesterday, as this newspaper announced, the government of Axel Kicillof called for a broad round of negotiations with the state, teacher and judicial unions and in the reopening of the parity proposed to pay with this month’s salaries an average increase of 20 percent .
The Province and the state unions signed an agreement for the first seven months of the year to be paid in three installments: 20 percent in March, 6 percent in May and 14 percent in July. With yesterday’s offer, the government of Axel Kicillof arranged to advance the payment of the July quota so that with the salaries of this month the state, teachers and judicial officers will receive an average 20 percent increase.
That increased fee added to the 20 percent already collected in March, rounds off a cumulative 40 percent for the first five months of the year.
Today INDEC will release inflation for April, which would be quite similar to that of March, which stood at 7.7 percent. And for May, some consultants already anticipate that the cost of living will be around 8 percent. In this way, salaries could be in line with or even slightly below the accumulated amount. For this reason, at yesterday’s meeting (UPCN, Fegeppba and ATE leaders participated) it was agreed that the negotiation be resumed in the first days of June.
In cases such as that of educational assistants, the increase is greater, representing 43.5% for the first five months of the year.
TEACHERS
In the case of teachers, the Province proposed to increase to 164,000 pesos the salary of the single-time grade teacher who has just started their teaching career.
Meanwhile, the initial salary of the full-time grade teacher will amount to 328 thousand pesos.
The cumulative average increase to May will be 40.5% and in the case of teachers who have just started, it will be 42.6%.
Both teachers and retired state and judicial staff will be covered by this improvement.
Within this framework, the Minister of Treasury and Finance, Pablo López, assured that “these agreements maintain the commitment that we assumed at the beginning of the year and are the product of permanent dialogue with the representatives of the unions.”
“From the management of Governor Axel Kicillof we will continue working to recover the purchasing power of provincial workers,” he concluded.
For his part, the Minister of Labor, Walter Correa assured: “The permanent dialogue we have with the unions was essential to respond to the workers.”
“From the Province we will continue to strengthen contact with union organizations to together find the most convenient way to address the claims of the compañeros,” he said.
Representatives of the Buenos Aires Judicial Association (AJB) participated in the meetings; by the workers of the law 10,430 leaders of the Fegeppba, UPCN, ATE, AEMOPBA, AERI, AJAMOP, AMS, APLA, Association of Control Organizations Personnel (APOC), CICOP, SGP, SOEME, SPMHLP, SOSBA and Health Union public.
Meanwhile, leaders from SUTEBA, FEB, UDOCBA, SADOP, AMET, UDA, ATE and UPCN participated for the teaching workers.
The other aspect agreed upon yesterday in the resumption of the parity has to do with the possibility of guaranteeing “short” agreements due to inflationary uncertainty.
Thus, it was agreed that the parties meet again in the first days of June, with the inflation data for May confirmed.
The unions, as this newspaper has been reporting, decided to bet on short negotiations, with the premise that wages do not lose against inflation. Thus, various sectors are inclined to meet with the Province at most every two months with that objective.
Thus, the possibility of a negotiation for the remainder of the year has already been ruled out due to economic uncertainty and the skyrocketing prices. The election year and the result of the Paso, which could put more pressure on the cost of living, are also on the balance.
