The CGT Board of Directors finally met today at the headquarters on Azopardo Street to define its next steps. In the run-up to the meeting, There were two very antagonistic options between those who want to move to a tougher confrontation strategy with the government of Javier Milei and those who are inclined to prioritize dialogue. They finally decided to harden their position and return to the streets, but without completely blowing up the bridges.
The meeting began after 3:30 p.m. and lasted three and a half hours amid an extensive collective “catharsis” and analysis of the situation, as defined by one of the meeting’s witnesses. “The Government has not given a positive response to the issues that are fundamental for us,” began the press conference after the Board of Directors meeting with one of the triumvirs, Héctor Daer.
The Deputy Secretary General listed the three key issues that had been raised with the Government at the hearing at the Ministry of Labour. On the one hand, review the update of Profits beyond the fact that the union warned that it reserved the possibility of taking action in court collectively or individually. Also the request to desist in the litigation for DNU 70/2023.
Thirdly, Daer mentioned the regulation of article 242, which corresponds to dismissal for serious insult in the case of union action due to blockade or occupation. An article that the Truckers claim was made to their measure, although there are several unions that appeal to mechanisms of this nature in their direct actions.
Finally, he stated that “We are not willing” to sit at the tripartite negotiation or consultation table after the Government decided to move forward with the regulation of the figure of the independent worker with three collaborators without addressing their request to technically clarify its scope..
“A businessman with three employees can be an importer of airplanes and those three employees would not have benefits because he sends them outside the Labor Contract Law to the flat tax without specifying at any time what the limits of use are,” said the triumvir. Instead, he said that “What we do want to discuss is how we create jobs, how we raise salaries, how we resolve pensions, which are increasingly lower, and how we create decent work and development for our country.“
What is the new CGT Plan of Action, point by point?
Pablo Moyano himself, co-secretary general of the CGT and number two of Camioneros, had anticipated in an interview with El Cronista the spirit with which many of the participants arrived at this event.Most of the unions that will be on the CGT Council are in trouble: recession, layoffs, collective bargaining, profits. The whole series of problems will end up with people on the streets.“, he had hinted in a one-on-one with this media outlet, a day earlier, in his offices at the Truck Drivers and Related Truck Drivers Union.
After an extensive debate, they decided to convene a federal plenary meeting of regional secretaries and general secretaries from all over the country, as had happened at the beginning of Javier Milei’s government. It was the starting point at that time to outline the roadmap that put the CGT together with the two CTAs in an active mode on the streets..
The goal now is to resume the role that some unions maintained but on their own and return to the streets under the banner of the CGT. In fact, the proposal that was put up for discussion with the support of several representatives was to march on August 7 alongside social movements in the framework of the commemoration of San Cayetano Day.the patron saint of Bread and Work.
That will take place in two Wednesdays. Before that, the formal call from the Ministry of Labor for the meeting of the tripartite table with the employers must arrive. But the CGT will decline its participation as such until it has a response to the extensive list of demands that it presented during its visit to those offices..
Two weeks ago, the CGT’s inner circle met at the UPCN headquarters to define its position following the passing of the Ley Bases and the fiscal package and awaiting its regulation. The aim was to analyse the best way to influence the modification of some of the aspects that were identified as the toughest in the regulations, from the return of the fourth category of Earnings to issues such as blocking – dismissal with just cause – or the figure of the independent worker with three collaborators.
It was then decided to request an audience with the Secretary of Labor, Julio Cordero. And to convene the Board of Directors for the 25th in order to debate whether to intensify the struggle plan that began in December of last year with the mobilization to the Courts to present a request for an injunction against DNU 70/2023.
Where there is agreement is on the impact, to a greater or lesser degree, of the national government’s economic policy on the various sectors. According to a CEPA report, Between November 2023 and April 2024, some 111,000 jobs have already been lost. The survey carried out by the Labour Department among employers predicts an equally negative May in which 18,000 more jobs could be lost.
At the same time, a significant number of companies have made progress in suspensions that, for now, prevent the number of layoffs from increasing during Milei’s administration. Abel Furlán, secretary general of the UOM, said that in his sector there are 28,000 suspensions while layoffs since December have reached 12,000.
In the run-up to the meeting, the CGT’s dialogue-oriented sectors – which are also, strictly speaking, feeling the impact of the economic paralysis – were struggling to keep the channels of dialogue open. Most of them went to Labor last week to meet with CorderoThere they demanded that the floor for Profits be raised in the regulations and that some points in the labor reform chapter of the Bases Law be touched up, when it is regulated.
“They didn’t even come to the corner, they had already regulated it, they screwed us,” said Moyano to El Cronista, referring to the income tax that re-implemented the fourth category. That left a large part of those strong unions back within the scope of the tax, which now includes all single workers with gross salaries of $1.8 million (US$1,937) and married workers with two children with gross salaries of $2.3 million (US$2,475).
The most combative unions are seeking to broaden the definition of the struggle plan with regional representations, as was done in December, when the Board of Directors was empowered to arrange the necessary measures in its fight with the Government.This led to the strike on January 29, the participation in the university march on April 23, the mobilization on May 1 and the half-day strike on May 9.
Those promoting the idea of a third strike insist that any action plan cannot be limited to a national strike but must be accompanied by other actions, from assemblies to mobilizations. There were those who promoted the idea of a federal march the day before. As an alternative and a middle ground, the idea of coinciding any event with Saint Cayetano’s Day, on August 7, was considered.
Meanwhile, the CGT already has a response in principle for the meeting that has not yet been scheduled – it would be next week – through which the Government sought to seat them at the table with the businessmen of the Group of Six.Both sectors will bring to the table their claims related to what was left out and what was left out of the Bases Law.
What the CGT and the businessmen are asking of the Government
According to what the CGT itself revealed after the meeting with Cordero, One of the main requests was the withdrawal of the appeal made by the Attorney General’s Office before the Supreme Court after the rulings in favor of the central in its claim against DNU 70/2023 due to the unconstitutionality of the labor chapter.
In addition, some aspects of the Law Bases linked to freedom of association, anti-discrimination protection, labor intermediation and supervision of informal employment, in addition to reforming the hiring modality of the three collaborators under the umbrella of the independent worker.
The commitment – the CGT said – was to receive the observations that the CGT technical legal team could bring to the Secretariat based on its own survey over the next 15 days. The reintroduction of the income tax on the fourth category was also rejected and the salary floors were described as “unviable” if the inflation update since last December is taken as a reference.
The request was also made to maintain the parity regime for discussing salaries with free negotiation between the parties, “without interference in percentage guidelines by the Government”, and to immediately speed up agreements already signed but not approved.
On behalf of the business sector, Mario Grinman, from the Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services (CAC); Adelmo Gabbi, from the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange (BCBA); Gustavo Weiss, from the Argentine Chamber of Construction (CAMARCO); Daniel Funes de Rioja, from the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA); Marcos Pereda, from the Argentine Rural Society (SRA); and Andrés Walls, from the Argentine Banking Association (ADEBA) attended Trabajo yesterday.
Although several of the participants later explained that there were no conversations on specific topics, A letter that the CAC left for Cordero summarizes many of the demands of the businessmen to put back on the table for debate some reforms that were withdrawn from the Ley Bases or were left on hold by the Justice with the mega DNU.
The letter includes recommendations from the CAC regarding the updating of labor credits with limits regulated by CPI and an interest rate ceiling of 3% per year; the urgent regulation of the Labor Cessation Fund; the digitalization of pay stubs and the repeal of aspects contained in the legal regime of teleworking contracts, in addition to the need to declare new services as essential, including banking activities, education and everything related to exports.
“We understand that there are still some pending issues that must necessarily be addressed as soon as possible, essentially, to collaborate with the maintenance of numerous SMEs that see their labor costs increasingly affected.“Grinman said in his note.
The Government’s response to the CGT
In the evening, the Secretary of Labor, Employment and Social Security responded to the CGT that “At this time, dialogue and progress on the agenda items raised to generate quality employment in the country are essential.“It is time to put aside sectoral interests in pursuit of the common good, and dialogue is the way forward,” he added.
In this regard, Cordero said that “The dialogue table will always remain open to all those who want to be part of it.“, although he clarified that “it must be established without prior requirements.” Cordero said that “it is important for citizens to know that we have taken up all the issues presented and have addressed them,” and explained that “the non-taxable minimum of the Personal Income Tax was defined by the National Congress.”
“When the first project was presented, an initial proposal of $1.25 billion (US$1.345) was taken into consideration; and when its treatment was resumed in April, it was updated to $1.8 million (US$1.937); even the legislature itself ordered a new update in the month of September.”.
Additionally, the official stressed that “The CGT leadership was invited to bring to the table all the issues they wish to discuss related to the labor chapter of DNU 70/2023 so that they could be agreed upon; since it is being processed before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and nothing prevents a prior consensus on each of the points.” before there is a definitive position from the highest court.
