Argentina’s ATE suspends PAMI strike after 14.1% raise and 180,000-peso bonus

Argentina’s Association of State Workers suspended a planned strike and rally at the PAMI headquarters after reaching a pay agreement with the public health agency. The deal provides a 14.1% salary increase and a 180,000-peso bonus.

The increase will be distributed across seven monthly adjustments: 2.4% for June, 2.2% for July, 1.9% for August, 1.9% for September, 1.8% for October, 1.6% for November and 1.5% for December. The June, July and August adjustments will be paid retroactively with September salaries.

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After months without collective bargaining and a prolonged wage freeze at the health agency, we finally managed to secure an increase.

The bonus will come in four payments of 45,000 pesos between September and December. The agreement covers both permanent employees and contracted workers. Other unions involved in the negotiations included UPCN, Appamia and UTI.

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Insufficient.

Rodolfo Aguiar, national secretary-general of ATE and a PAMI employee, said the average national income for PAMI workers would exceed 2.2 million pesos after the increases. He said employees in southern provinces would also receive a Patagonian regional allowance, while workers in managerial positions would earn more than 3 million pesos.

Aguiar welcomed the agreement after months without collective bargaining and a prolonged wage freeze, but called the proposal insufficient. He said it did not compensate for the cuts workers had suffered and suspended the strike as a “gesture of goodwill,” while demanding a new bargaining session to help employees recover their purchasing power. Verónica Pérez, the agency’s new executive coordinator, represented PAMI authorities at the talks.

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As a gesture of goodwill.