Sitting at the new “tripartite table”, the Government, the CGT and the UIA have reached an initial understanding to curb inflationary acceleration. This Tuesday, at a meeting chaired by the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, officials from the economic area and unions asked to expedite and advance joint negotiations, many of which are in effect, to improve wages . The companies announced their agreement, due to “this extraordinary context” due to rising prices.

In some specific senses, but with a willingness to agree, one part of the Government planned to request an additional bonus outside of parity to compensate for the overflow of prices, something that companies and unions deny to others’ t another reason. The meeting ended with the signing of a law, in which companies and unions “propose to follow up on the results of these negotiations.”

Traders, yes, were quick to agree to put together a complementary basket of Care Prices between 50 and 60 products to set nationwide reference prices. They even promised to send the list before Friday and make the program public with the Government.

This is the second round of open negotiations, after a request by the president, Alberto Fernández, to achieve broad consensus to fight inflation.

The call was widespread this Tuesday. On the 5th floor of the Palacio de Hacienda, in addition to Guzmán, ministers Matías Kulfas (Productive Development) and Claudio Moroni (Labor) attended. The representation of the companies was led by the head of the UIA, Daniel Funes de Rioja, and the entire leadership of the CGT attended by the unions: Héctor Daer, Pablo Moyano, Carlos Acuña, Andrés Rodríguez. Moyano was the last to enter the meeting, almost at the beginning.

At Casa Rosada there are great expectations around the dialogue table. Mainly because the Government hopes that this year wages will beat the price. Something complicated since next week the Indec will reveal March inflation. Private consultants estimate that the index will be slightly lower at 6%, up from 4.7% in February and 4.3% in March last year.

At the end of the summit, Daer raised the need for “revenues to become increasingly important, to beat inflation and to have an upward and holy circle to solve Argentina’s problems.” So far, the companies have agreed to reopen and expedite wage discussions. But they clarified that “collective bargaining is the appropriate tool to achieve an increase in remuneration.” No extra bonuses or boosters. The unions also don’t want to know about it.

Funes de Rioja told Clarín that “the main conclusion of the meeting was the desire for dialogue.” The director stressed the vocation of all parties to deal with rising prices, especially food, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “In the industrial sector there are 840 collective agreements. The increase in prices – said Funes de Rioja – has had an impact on the purchasing power of wages, but also on the level of activity”. Companies also warned that reopening paritarias would not help to calm inflationary expectations.

In the trade union scene, very few unions have closed joint ventures, including UOCRA (Construction) and the banks. Between June and July they must close their agreements with Health and Truckers, among the most powerful. By the end of the meeting, Daer was satisfied. He raised the need for “revenues to be increasingly important, to beat inflation and to have an upward and holy circle to solve the problems that Argentina has.”

For the economic cabinet, the tripartite pact with UIA and CGT is the beginning of a new phase. If the talks progress, they are keen on adding other items and sectors to the negotiation table, including rural, construction and commerce. The goal is not just to discuss wage recovery (the priority is for wages to beat inflation, they repeat in Casa Rosada) and deepen resistance to rising prices. “We want to sustain the recovery of activity,” they repeated like a slogan.

Everything is taking place in a scenario of general price increases, but the most worrying are the main products of the food basket. And this despite the proliferation of controls imposed by the Secretary of Commerce, Roberto Feletti, since he took office in October last year. Based on known data, most consultants estimate that inflation this year will reach 60%. Beyond the limit promised by Guzmán (48%) in the agreement he closed with the International Monetary Fund.