The Government of Javier Miley again established the increase of Minimum, Vital and Mobile Wage (SMVM) through a decreemaking a fool of the Salary Council and reinforcing the decline in the purchasing power of male and female workersespecially those who live informally and those who receive some type of state benefit or subsidy.
At the last meeting of Salary Councilwhich brings together the three labor confederations and the business chambers, it was not possible to reach an agreement on the increase in basic assets, which until yesterday was $ 271.572. Given this, the President decided to intervene by decree, as he already did at other times of the year. Something that in theory could go against its “philosophy” of “free agreement” between employers and unions, but which reveals their true intentions against the living conditions of the working majority.
Through the Resolution 17/2024 published this Thursday in the Official Gazette, mercy decrees an increase of only $8,146 in it SMVM for December, with subsequent adjustments that will take it to $296,832 in March 2025. The adjustment is consistent with the claims that the owners of the economic corporations had expressed (the vast majority of which support the government of Freedom Advances) and is very far from the $ 572.000 who had requested union leadership.
Thus, from March 2025 the SMVM will have the lowest real value in two decadescon a drop of 17.8% compared to December 2023 and 39% compared to the end of 2019. Beyond the “nominal” increase, specifically this adjustment reflects a real fall in the minimum wage, which highlights the loss of purchasing power of workers in the first year of libertarian government and in a context in which inflation continues to be very high.
Thus, with the devaluation implemented by the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo The Government barely took office a little over a year ago and with the miserable increases by decree of the SMVM, the free fall in popular income since 2011 is consolidated and without signs of recovery. With increases that fail to keep pace with inflation, workers are increasingly unprotected.
While the conductions of the CGT and of the two CTA had requested a significant increase in the minimum wage, proposing that it go from the current $270,000 to $572,000, the business community led by the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) had been planted on a staggered “raise” that would take the salary from $278,000 in December to $284,000 in January, $290,000 in February and $295,000 in March.
Given these positions, the Secretary of Labor, Julio Corderoasked the President to decide. Finally, mercy signed the Resolution with the increase suggested by Daniel Funes from Riojarepresentative of the UIA. That is, the official decision is to provoke a loss of purchasing power of 17.8% compared to December 2023, reflecting a significant deterioration in the living conditions of workers.
According to Luis Camposlabor lawyer Autonomous CTA and director of Observatory of Social Lawthis measure represents a significant setback for lower-income workers. “In the 1990s, the SMVM was equivalent to 25% of the average registered private sector salary. In 2009, it reached 45%. Today, it doesn’t even reach 20%,” he expressed from his account. X. And he highlighted that, in a context of growing wage inequality, where some activities managed to overcome inflation while others suffered significant losses, using the SMVM as an adjustment tool is a harmful decision. “It is an invitation to ‘every man for himself’”he sentenced.
It is worth remembering that the current minimum wage represents barely a quarter of what is necessary to cover the poverty linewhich according to Indec is located in $ 1.001.466. And that the SMVM also serves as a “reference” both for the initial salaries of those who have informal and/or non-unionized jobs (for an eight-hour day) and for those who receive some type of income from the State, from social plans and programs to the Universal Child Allowance (AUH).
According to data from Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP-Conicet) of the University of Buenos Airesthe formal labor market suffered the loss of more than 200,000 jobs between September 2023 and June of this year. In this context, the union leaders of the CGT and the CTA appear to be allowing these harmful policies advance without resistance. That report of IIEP-Conicet highlights that the downward trend of the SMVM has deepened with the devaluation implemented by Caputo in December, which has further eroded workers’ purchasing power.
The fall in the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage since 2011, added to the marked contraction that has been registered in recent months, has led to this indicator being located between the lowest levels of its historical seriesexcept for the first years of convertibility and its subsequent crisis.
The “largest adjustment in history”, promoted by mercy y Caputo with the aim of achieving the “zero deficit” y meet the demands of the IMF and the financial markets, is nothing more than a machinery that pushes millions of people into povertybeyond the recent numbers released by the Government that speak of an incipient decline in these indices in the last part of the year.
In this context, the leaders of the CGT and the CTA have allowed these adjustment policies to advance without resistance, which shows the urgent need to recover the unions to put an end to this complicit truce with the Government. It’s time to organize a fight plan that faces the adjustment driven by mercy and the FMI. It is essential recover what was lost and ensure that salaries, pensions and allowances are adjusted for inflation. Furthermore, it must be required a minimum wage that, as a base, is equivalent to the cost of the basic family basket.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
