After the UIA-CGT agreement, the UOM is the first union that closed its agreement to suspend workers with salary cuts

The Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (UOM) became the first union to sign its suspension agreement with a salary reduction after the agreement between the Government, the UIA and the CGT.

The metallurgical leaders led by Antonio Caló and three of the five cameras the business sector finally agreed paying 70% of gross salary, which represents 86% of the net, for employees who are without tasks due to quarantine and its validity will last for four months, and includes a commitment to maintain all sources of employment.

Thus, the salary discount will be approximately 14% of the net salary, a figure that improves the 25% that had been set as a ceiling in the UIA-CGT agreement.

The terms are the same as those that were being negotiated before the framework agreement was initialed, although so far it was only agreed with the Association of Metallurgical Industrialists of the Argentine Republic (ADIMRA), the Association of Argentine Electronic Terminal Factories (AFARTE) and the Federation of Industrial Cameras of Home Appliances (FEDEHOGAR).

They are still analyzing the scope of the agreement the Association of Auto Parts Factories (AFAT) and the Chamber of Small and Medium Metallurgical Industry Argentina (CAMIMA), but it is discounted that they will be added in the next few hours to what was signed by the rest of the chambers.

The agreement also includes the possibility that companies that cannot pay it can exit the agreement and negotiate different conditions to which they agreed in a general way.

The UOM was negotiating with employers and the negotiations were almost closedbut first there was a rebellion of some metallurgical sectionals they did not accept the cut in wages and then the union hit a bang last Wednesday to await the result of the efforts made by the Government, the UIA and the CGT to define the 25% salary discount cap in cases where suspensions are agreed by article 223 bis of the Labor Contract Law .

Many metallurgical companies that are paralyzed by quarantine enrolled in the Assistance to Work and Production (ATP) program, created by Decree 376, which provides that the State pay half of the salaries to workers in the private sector (with a cap of 33,750 pesos) and reduction of employer contributions, among other points.

But the crisis in the metallurgical sector is very deep: According to industry sources, 80% of companies have been paralyzed for 40 days (and will be for another ten days) and most are concentrated in the urban laces which will take longer to return to the activity.

The concern is heightened because there is 15,000 small and medium metal companies, who employ an average of 10 or 12 employees each, who have less room for maneuver to comply with the agreement signed with the UOM and who had already anticipated that they were going to pay “what they could” from April salaries . Even, it transpired that it would have been under the number of metallurgical SMEs that signed up for the State to pay 50% of wages.

Companies are obliged to pay 100% of the salary of workers without tasks during quarantine, even if they have their blinds closed, although the aid established by Decree 376 allows half of wages provided by the State. The UIA and CGT agreement establishes that the maximum wage discount for workers suspended for lack of tasks will be 25% of net salary.

In the tripartite agreement, which must still be implemented by means of a decree or resolution, it is established that “the amount that employers must pay as non-remunerative benefit or the money assignments that are delivered in compensation for suspensions of the labor benefit in this framework may not be less than 75% of net salary that would have corresponded to the worker in case of having worked. On this amount, all contributions and contributions by law 23,660 and 23,661 and the payment of the union fee must be made ”.

And he adds: “In the event that it is declared applicable in a company the complementary payment provided for in Article 8 of DNU 376/20 and its complementary regulations, the amount of the complementary allocation paid by ANSES –which in no case will be less than the value of a minimum, vital and mobile salary– will be considered part of the monetary benefit previously ordered, so that the amount paid by the employer will complement it until reaching the established percentage“

It also provides that “those who apply this regulatory framework they must maintain their workforce without alteration for a period equal to the validity of this rule ”.