The Federation led by Hugo and Pablo Moyano plans to speed up the meetings to update salaries. The settlement was 107% plus a $100,000 bonus.
By Alejandro DiBiasi
12/05/2023 – 20,45hs
In times of “open sky” parities, the National Federation of Truck Drivers began to probe with the business chambers for a re-updating of wages taking into account the latest inflation rates. 8.4 percent ended up activating the alarms of Hugo and Pablo Moyano, maximum referents of the union organization, who will speed up the meetings taking into account that the inflation of the last 12 months is 108.8 percent.
The Federation agreed to 107 percent per annum, plus the payment of a bonus of 100,000 pesos and increases in additional expenses such as travel expenses and presenteeism. According to the act approved by the Ministry of Labor, the increase was divided into four sections: 27 percent in November; 27 in February; 27 in May; and the remaining 26 percent in August.
In this way, taking the basic and adding the Christmas bonus, in December they will charge about 160,000 and the top category about 280,000 pesos (in both cases without seniority or travel expenses). To this must be added the plus of 100,000 pesos, divided into four installments of 25,000 (March, April, May and June).
Truckers demand salary increase after knowing new inflation rate
Union sources consulted by iProfessional warned that “We were waiting for the inflation data for April which, added to the 7.7% in March plus the increases that are being registered this month, give us a negative context where workers are suffering a brutal loss of purchasing power”. They added that “obviously the parity was old due to the rise in the cost of living; so we are going to ask for an increase to compensate for the drop we are suffering”.
Truckers has various branches that range from the transportation of food, medicine and fuel to bank clearing. The sector with the highest income is long-distance transport, since to the basic one must be added the per-kilometre per diem (which will be about 7.5 pesos, with a daily guarantee of 350 kilometers) and about 5,000 pesos per overnight stay. Adding other additional ones (especially antiquity), salaries could be around 340,000 pesos approximately.
Until now, both Hugo and Pablo Moyano maintained informal contacts with the representatives of the Argentine Federation of Transport and Logistics (Faetyl); the Argentine Federation of Cargo Motor Transport Business Entities (Fadeeac) and the Argentine Confederation of Cargo Motor Transport (Catac).
At the end of 2022, the Truckers union was satisfied with the agreed 107% increase.
Truckers Parity: disputed and conflictive negotiation
But it must be remembered that last year’s negotiations were not on good terms, since in the absence of an agreement, Pablo Moyano had warned that if there was not a quick solution, the tire conflict (which lasted about five months with strikes and mobilizations ) I was going “to be a bean next to the Truckers”.
When the negotiation seemed bogged down, the figure of Hugo Moyano appeared. At the end of a hearing at the headquarters of the Ministry of Labor in Callao at 100, the union leader warned that if there was no agreement, they would “begin with a general strike.” The then new head of the labor portfolio, Raquel “Kelly” Olmos, also intervened there so that the parties reach an agreement.
The National Federation of Truck Drivers represents some 200,000 workers in various categories such as truck and tow truck drivers; packers; waste collectors, sweeping and cleaning; drivers and specialized removal laborers; operating personnel for clearing transport, postal cargo and private mail; operational personnel of the transport of flows; workshop and/or maintenance personnel and administrative personnel, among others.
In the Truckers union, the satisfaction of the agreement was forgotten
The variety of branches is a complication to make a basic salary estimate, especially when the additional ones that go beyond seniority or travel expenses begin to be added. For example in the long distance sector you have to add a 10 percent increase, but they charge a plus for travel per kilometer traveled; extra hours; Cross the border; stay outside the habitual residence. The agreement also includes an increase in the additional charge for the Logistics Branch, Mail and Express Branch and Removals.
The meeting made it possible to establish the agreement that was signed by the businessmen and unionists with the endorsement of the labor portfolio represented by Olmos, the Secretary of Labor, Marcelo Belloti, and the National Director of Labor Relations and Regulations, Gabriela Marcello.
Once the meeting was over, Hugo Moyano explained that “the agreement began to get complicated because they did not want to accept some points such as the recognition of long-distance workers and other branches of activity” and stressed that “it seems that what was given by truckers in the middle of the pandemic who, along with other activities, kept transporting food and medicines, exposing their lives and those of their families, is not taken into account.”
