Ismael Bermúdez
07/04/2020 - 11:35
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
According to the data declared by the employers, during April, 60,000 private companies suspended 715,000 formal workers , according to the Report of the Ministry of Labor. This figure is equivalent to 12% of salaried employees in the private sector.
Those suspensions came amid a collapse in private registered employment. Data from the Ministry of Labor registered 228,400 fewer workers than in March, 185,800 less in the seasonally adjusted version and 364,000 fewer than in the same month of 2019, a decrease of 3%.
These data do not include what happened among unregistered employees and self-employed workers who, because they work informally and with greater job insecurity , the loss of employment and suspensions are much higher.
The suspensions were carried out under the scheme agreed between the CGT and the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA ) that allows companies to suspend their workers with the backing of the unions, with a reduction of up to 25% of remuneration, applying the article 223 bis of the Labor Contract Law (LCT). The CGT-UIA request was made official through Resolution 397/2020 of the Ministry of Labor, which established the abbreviated procedure to the requests made by employers and unions.
Due to this level of suspensions with reduced wages, it is discounted that in April there was a sharp drop in wages and the wage bill.
Although dismissals and suspensions are prohibited, decree No. 329/20 left open the possibility of applying article 223 of the LCT that allows, "by force majeure" or "reduction of work", to be agreed individually or collective suspensions in exchange for a non-remunerative remuneration lower than the current remunerations.
According to Labor, on average, 22% of workers in companies benefiting from the Work and Production Assistance (ATP) program were suspended, while in non-beneficiary companies this percentage drops to 4%. "That is to say, the sectors and companies most affected by the suspension of activities were the ones that most frequently resorted to the suspensions of their workers in a dependent relationship," the report states.
In turn, from the Labor Indicators Survey (EIL), which includes companies with more than 10 workers, during May, the employers consulted show that the suspensions “stood at 8.8%, showing the highest level of series . At the company level, there is also a high value: the companies that applied suspensions amounted to 17%, more than doubling the historical values ”.
In April, that same Survey had thrown 7.5% suspended workers, and at the company level in 14% of companies.
With the impulse of the Government, the approval of the suspensions with salary reduction was a request of the UIA and the CGT that was initially established for 60 days, through DNU 329/2020, from April 1. And then, through DNU 487/2020 it was renewed for another 60 days, until the end of July. The main unions that agreed to these suspensions were gastronomic, commercial employees, metallurgists or oil workers.
