Guillermo Montenegromayor of General Pueyrredon with headquarter in the city of Mar del Plata, came out to express a strong rejection about the moment in which the Ministry of Labor of the provincial government of Axel Kicillof approved him new collective agreement to the municipal officials of that districtwhich includes starting with a month of vacation, hereditary positions in the Commune and a move up the ladder three years after retiringamong other points.
Montenegro’s claim became known this Wednesday, when the communal chief gave a Press conferencebut the approval of the agreement was on Thursday of last week although It has been going on for seven years and a protagonist is dead..
Carlos Arroyo, who died in 2022, was mayor of General Pueyrredón for Juntos – the Buenos Aires leg of Together for Change -, between 2015 and 2019. He governed the municipality while Maria Eugenia Vidal She was governor of Buenos Aires and was the one who celebrated the agreement with the municipalities by the local Executive. However, today Montenegro complains both about the striking points of the agreement and about the moment – in times of “caste” and adjustments – in which it was approved, more than half a decade later. And the Province responds.
“In 2017, former mayor Carlos Arroyo and the Municipal Employees Union signed a collective agreement that was presented to the Ministry of Labor for approval. Seven years later, due to those ‘coincidences of life’last Thursday the Ministry of Labor of the Province of Buenos Aires registered the aforementioned agreement,” Montenegro complained.
“Among other things, the agreement says that the position of municipal employees is hereditarygenerating a kind of municipal noble title; that when you start working you automatically have 30 days of vacation, that is more than double than any employee in the country, among other totally unprecedented issues,” Montenegro added on social networks.
And the PRO communal chief continued with his claim. “Establish the inability to transfer an employee if this affects the principle of family unity, undermines its dignity or is morally or materially affected; a mandatory recategorization’: so that when a worker is three years away from retirementyou have to upload a category of his position and, if that category does not exist, a special one is invented; The modification of the vacation regime so that in the first year of work you are entitled to 30 days of vacation. That is, we are talking about more than twice as many vacation days as any worker in the country,” he noted.
And he asked himself: “Why the provincial government is choosing to do it now And wasn’t it seven years ago when this project was presented?”
“A solidarity contribution and employer contribution: through which workers – whether affiliated or not – They have to contribute 0.5% of their remuneration, and the Municipality must also contribute 1% of the salary bill for the Union. This is the neighbors’ money. Do you think it’s okay to use the neighbors’ money to finance the Union? It is one thing for whoever wants to be affiliated to make their contribution, we are not going to discuss this, but to force all people from Mar del Plata have to pay their taxes to make a contribution to a union structure?” Montenegro questioned.
From the provincial Ministry of Labor they highlighted Clarion that the Province only registered the agreement between the parties, between the municipal union and the municipal Executive.
On the other hand, they remember that Arroyo was from the same political force as Montenegro. In fact, he was a neighborhood resident who was elected by Together for Change.
In turn, when asked about the time in which the agreement was approved, from the Ministry led by Walter Correa, general secretary of the Union of Tanner Workers of the Argentine Republic (SOCRA), responded that it was resolved in good time.
They pointed out that Correa has been in office for less than a yeartook office in August of last year, and that within a very extensive province, with millions of Buenos Aires residents and 135 municipalities, the approval was resolved in appropriate times.
In harmony with Montenegro, the Buenos Aires senator Alejandro Rabinovich came out, who treated the agreement as “unhinged, irrational” and “pre-French Revolution.” “They intend for the people of Mar del Plata to pay, offer and accept as if they were the subjects of this bunch of scourges that lives, literally, in another era of world history,” he accused Kicillof.
The most controversial articles of the municipal agreement that the mayor of Montenegro questions
One of those questioned by the current communal chief is Article 8. “When the death of a workerthe item left by the deceased will be reserved for the spouse or cohabitant or the eldest of the childrenas long as he proves that he meets the requirements of the special selection procedure, he will be admitted for the lowest position in the corresponding ladder.”
Also article 10: “Every appointment is provisional until the worker acquires stability. This right is acquired after six (6) months, if there is no prior opposition founded and duly notified by the competent authority 30 days in advance. During the trial period the worker must be required to carry out training and/or training actions dictated by the employer, the result of which may condition their final situation.
At the same time, in article 68, there appears a 10% bonus that is added to a prize of five business days if there are no missing in the quarter. “This benefit is granted to workers who comply with the schedule and attendance provisions. It will consist of a percentage of ten percent (10%) calculated on the worker’s basic salary, and five percent (5%) in the case that the worker incurs justified absence”.
“The additional present will be settled in all cases of perfect assistanceeven when using the following leaves: vacation, prenuptial, maternity, bereavement, marriage, quarterly leave, work and union accidents, as well as said additional will be paid to those workers who cannot attend their workplaces due to transportation strike and who prove they live more than 30 (thirty) blocks from their place of work”, keep going.
And finishes: “Likewise, a license of FIVE (5) business days will be granted on a quarterly basis. Said leave must be taken during the next following quarter. The additional fee for presenteeism will be lost when late arrivals exceed the limit established in article 102.”
Montenegro also questions the clause right to have a 30-minute snack dailywhich can be supplied for a sum of money: “Personnel who work continuous shifts of six (6) or more hours will have the right to a thirty (30) minute break for refreshment. This break may not be deducted or added to the work day.”
“It is established that this modality may not cause the reduction of longer breaks that workers are currently enjoying due to the nature and location of the tasks. Likewise, workers have the right to daily refreshments, which may be provided under the conditions and with the modalities established, and may be supplied by a compensatory sum”, highlights the agreement.
Another point of controversy is in the vacation: “The annual rest leave will be graduated as follows: a) Thirty (30) calendar days when the seniority of the employment does not exceed ten (10) years. b) Of thirty-seven (37) days consecutive when the seniority is greater than ten 10) years, and does not exceed twenty (20) years. c) Forty-five (45) days consecutive when the seniority exceeds twenty (20) years. Annual rest leave may be dividedat the option of the worker, in periods of no less than fourteen (14) days.”
And further: “The worker will have the right to enjoy it for the corresponding term when he has completed one (1) year of immediate seniority as of December 31 of the year prior to the year it was granted. If he does not complete this seniority, he will enjoy license on a proportional basis to the registered seniority as long as this was not less than six (6) months”.
