The acceleration of prices in February put on standby the intention of the Ministry of Economy to moderate the rise in wages and align it with the path of adjustments that had the projection of 60% included in the national budget as an inflationary anchor.
With a bimonthly increase of over 13% in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and a quarter that will end very close to 20%, there is no room to request prudence from the unions.
In fact, the Banking Association closed its joint agreement this Friday with an increase in wages of 32.5% until May, but to which must be added compensation clauses for the Income Tax that raise that percentage.
Numerically, 32.5% for five months does not seem so far from the official idea, but adding the other items the result is different.
When 2023 started and the runaway was not yet intuited, and while progress was made in agreements with different sectors in search of predictability, Sergio Massa suggested that the unions should join the consensus trend and accommodate their salary claims.
Skilled in this struggle, the trade unionists took their time and avoided confronting an empowered minister.
The passing of the weeks proved them right. With a basic food basket running at 110% per year, having dribbled support now gives them a greater margin of negotiation.
Like the banking ones, the unions that have already closed their joint ventures did so for less than a year and in most cases with adjustment percentages above what was claimed by the Treasury.
In the middle of the year and with the electoral calendar “on fire” the reopenings promise arduous discussions.
The key test for the Government will be next Tuesday when the Vital and Mobile Minimum Wage Council (SMVM) meets.
At the table will be the businessmen who agreed with Massa that their products have a path of increases of 3.2% in the coming months and the representatives of the workers who must seek compensation for the loss of purchasing power in recent months and anticipate to the next increases. In another chair will be the Ministry of Labor that does not act directly in the discussion, but that undoubtedly ended up in an uncomfortable situation.
The last meeting of the Council had been held in November 2022 when the following path of increases was agreed: $61,953 from December 1, $65,427 from January 1, $67,743 from February 1 and $69,500 in March.
In this way, between January and April of this year, workers will perceive in their pockets (the value from December 1 is charged in January and so on) an improvement of 13%, which is similar only to the inflation of the first two months.
Consequently, the way in which the discussion develops will be crucial and will mark the lines of the next parities. The eyes will be on how the representatives of the workers fight for that reason almost 13 points of difference that already occurred between the agreed adjustments and the evolution of inflation.
It should be remembered that the SMVM is also used to update social plans, so its evolution will fully impact the expenditures that the Ministry of Economy will have to face in the coming months to finance the different aid programs.
According to official data, the Average Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers (RIPTE) registered an increase of 87.7% to $201,000 in January, which means a loss of purchasing power close to 10 points.
Although these are average calculations, they give an idea of the delicate situation, since many sectors have given up much more for less bargaining power. And the cut is felt much more in the case of informal workers who are not covered by any collective bargaining.
