The uncertainty is over. President Alberto Fernandez will extend the DNU anti-layoff and double compensation without just cause. It is imminent, the first measure expires on January 29; the second, on Monday. This was confirmed to Clarion officials most trusted by the President. Close to the president they announced that the double compensation will continue until the end of the year while the ban on dismissals and suspensions would continue for the next 90 days.
In the Executive they doubted the convenience to fix two measures that were born with an expiration date. Fernández imposed double severance pay to avoid layoffs for the first time for 180 days on December 19, 2019, before the pandemic. Nine days after taking office, the head of state decreed the norm to dissuade businessmen and decreed the labor emergency.
On March 30, when he had already decreed the quarantine, Fernández prohibited by decree the dismissals and suspensions of workers for 60 days. The extended 5 times. Now I would do it for 90 days.
Thirteen months after decreeing double compensation -inspired by the “anti-layoff law of 2016, which Mauricio Macri vetoed – the scenario is different. In the Executive they pointed out that a new extension could be detrimental to the creation of new jobs in a year in which the Government aspires to grow.
When the President signed the last extension, on November 16, the Government let it be known that there would be no others. In those days, there was also talk of a update of service rates which was finally postponed so that inflation does not follow its upward course at the beginning of the electoral year. Outside the microphone, several officials pointed out that Cristina Kirchner had convinced the Minister of Economy Martin Guzman of the need to postpone the rate update. In the Senate they never took over that version. Nor do they defend this measure.
As reported by journalist Silvia Naishtat in Clarion, the doubts of the Fernández ministers also had an echo in the CGT. The workers’ central is divided around the measure. Some trade unionists believe that it can discourage new job creation. Others trust the dynamics of recovery. Antonio Caló, from the UOM, informed a minister days ago that it already had 7,000 new members.
The business sector has fewer doubts. “There is no way to guarantee productive continuity if this triple stock is extended,” UIA vice president Daniel Funes de Rioja told this newspaper. Something similar had been raised by Techint when the measure was implemented, just after the company laid off 1,450 employees. “Some miserable people forget those who work for them,” Fernández said at the time.
Then he would try to rebuild trust with the business sectors with meetings in Olivos or with the efforts of the Strategic Affairs advisor Gustavo Beliz, the Interior Ministers, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro; and Economy, Martín Guzmán. For now, several of the main industrialists and leaders of agriculture maintain their distrust. The President planned to create by decree the Economic and Social Council, which he had initially planned to send to Congress. For now, the decision is delayed.
During the afternoon of Thursday, while the news was unofficially confirmed, the Economic Cabinet He was meeting again at the Casa Rosada. The double compensation and the prohibition of dismissals were not part of the agenda, as reported by the Government. The decision was already made beforehand.
The Minister of Economy Martín Guzmán, the Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero -who withdrew together from the Hall of Scientists-; Claudio Moroni, from Work; the head of the AFIP, Mercedes Marcó del Pont, the head of the Central Bank Miguel Pesce and the head of the Agriculture Portfolio Luis Basterra they debated the assignment of Repro 2; for companies that requested it in November and December, and the registration of critical sectors and the private Health system, in particular, such as Clarín had advanced.
They also reviewed the names of the companies that received the ATP and did not respect current regulations. Finally, they reviewed food prices, which registered a 5.1% rise in December. It is the issue that most worries the President.
Fernández did not attend the meeting, he had previously met with the governor of Chubut Mariano arcioni, which owes a debt to state workers. Some officials who report to the ministers who participated in the meeting described the idea of extending the double compensation until the end of the year as “crazy”. They were unaware that the decision had already been made.
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