Without agreement between the Government and the Central Unitarian Workers (CUT) and with a zero pesos increment offer, the adjustment of the minimum wage 2021 enters the Congress.
The proposal of the portfolio led by Ignacio Briones is unprecedented and obeys the current economic and labor crisis by COVID-19, according to the arguments implemented by the authority.
The Executive’s position aroused unrest in opposition. For PC MP Daniel Nunez, the adjustment of 0% of the minimum wage “is unworthy”. “The Piñera government unloads the full weight of the trabajador@s crisis,” he said, adding that “if the tax on the super-rich is approved, the minimum wage can go up to 350,000 with state subsidies.” Giorgio Jackson (RD) in both qualifying the situation as “surreal.” “What kind of “offer” of new minimum wage implies a adjustment of $0 peso?” he asked.
From the CUT, meanwhile, they proposed to increase the minimum wage to 400,000 pesos, as were the Emergency Family Income. The Government ruled this out because they said it implies a 25% hike amid the biggest economic crisis in decades.
According to the president of the multi-union, Barbara Figueroa, “the contradiction that the Executive has raised is employment versus wages. If I freeze wages then I protect the job. We say that can’t be the contradiction. We’re all going to have to make efforts, no doubt. But so far the only one who is not requiring a greater effort is the entrepreneur.”
“Who has been silent in this debate? The entrepreneurship, they have not spoken out. Those who have been putting themselves in the crisis all the time, have been the workers had him to work all this time because there are workers here who during these 6 months have maintained the economy, have participated in essential services,” he added.
The management emphasized in Infinite Radio that the CUT gave clear signs of flexibility. “The Government raised in the negotiations that are available to review the minimum guaranteed income. We propose that you make a mix between the minimum guaranteed income and the minimum wage. A policy in general that one might say is not the policy that trade unionists propose. When we discussed wage adjustment we do not want the state to be the one to subsidie companies, in fact we were critical of the minimum guaranteed income that was discussed long before the pandemic began,” he said.
However, Figueroa pointed out that the Government’s signal is to ask workers again to “tighten their belts again,” with reality showing – as the 10% of AFPs showed – “that when workers have the capacity to eat, that has a positive impact on the economy but especially on SMEs.”
The Treasury’s explanations
Minister Ignacio Briones explained that the proposed adjustment “reflects the economic and labour crisis that is going through the country, as a result of the PANdemic COVID-19”. From the Treasury, they said the 0% readjustment is due to the “0% variation of the CPI between March 2020 and today.”
“The fall in economic activity puts us at levels similar to what the country had three years ago, when the minimum wage was 291,426 pesos (…) At the time, the unemployment rate was 7.3%, almost half of the unemployment recorded in the last May-July mobile quarter, of 13.1%,” Briones argued through a statement.
“This readjustment maintains the purchasing power of workers; responds to the reality of the thousands of Chileans who are now looking for employment; and is responsible for SMEs that are now looking to recover and employ three out of four workers who earn the minimum,” he added.
