A new chapter in the
fight between the Government and the unions for salary updates
occurs in the wine sector.
The union and business sectors of Mendoza and San Juan, the main wine-producing provinces, confirmed that, in joint negotiations, they were informed that
agreements that exceeded 14% remuneration for March and 9% for April were not going to be approved.
The vineyard worker, the lowest category, earned $187,000 monthly in February.
And the unions aspired to a salary above $400,000.
To reach the amounts proposed by the unions, they had to close agreements for March and April,
which double February's income.
But, the Libertarian Government has made it clear that it does not intend to approve joint agreements closed in the private sector above certain limits.
"(Luis) Caputo's order is not to validate increases greater than 14% in March and 9% in April," explained Labor spokespersons, in mid-March, when asked by
Clarín
.
In the case of wine, the unions and business chambers that sat down with the supporter received the warning that: "they will not approve increases above 12%."
The salary of a
warehouse operator,
in the March-April two-month period, will have an
80% increase over the February salary
.
And with the addition of other items, such as non-remunerative contributions and refreshments, it will be around $518,000.
The
vineyard worker
closed an adjustment per quarter and only in the pocket salary in May will he reach the $480,000 salary, which the Vineyard Workers Union (Soeva) requested for March.
Fabián Ruggeri, president of the Association of Wine Cooperatives (Acovi) told
Clarín
that “when we discussed the parity, the Government representatives told us that they were not going to approve more than 12% monthly increase.
However,
the companies decided to sign the increase that we had agreed with the unions."
The wine agreement was signed
but has not yet been approved
.
Industry leaders understand that
the Government will not endorse it, but it will be applied anyway.
"The chambers agreed to make a
more real approach to the loss of income
that workers had had due to inflation," explained Ruggeri. And he stated: "The agreement is in force."
Union complaints
There are several activities that agreed to their equal increases starting in March with increases above the Caputo limit and
did not obtain approval from the Government.
The list includes activities such as
loading and unloading , which agreed to an improvement for March of 17% plus a trigger clause for inflation,
graphic
workers
who signed a 20% increase for this month and
building managers
who agreed since February to an increase of Four. Five%.
The conflict also persists with
Camioneros,
the Moyano union, which had agreed with the chambers on a 25% increase for March and another 20% for April.
"The Government does not want to approve more than what they say, which in our case they offered us 12% and 9%," said Juan Carlos Aguirre, general secretary of Soeva Mendoza.
Aguirre hopes that the industrial sector and the wine grower will respect the agreement: “There is a commitment signed with the business chambers that
this increase is valid
.”
And he maintains that, at some point, the Ministry of Labor will have to approve it.
In an interview with newspaper
Los Andes
, the union member of the wine sector criticized the Milei government: “This has never happened,
let alone being told how much you are going to earn
,” Aguirre said.
In agreement, Mauro Sosa, the executive director of the Centro de Viñateros y Bodegueros del Este, the entity that signed the dissenting joint agreement, along with the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce and the San Juan Viticultural Chamber, said: "Salaries had to be updated, But there is no way to justify 12%, it is ridiculous and not at all reasonable.”