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This follows the example of the agreement signed by the companies and the oil union to reduce the exploitation costs of the Vaca Muerta oil field in the province of Neuquén.
Following the controversial oil and automotive agreements, the government will launch this week a bill with which it hopes to stimulate the ailing construction industry, a key sector for the official plans to get the economy back on track during the election year.
According to the sources consulted, the initiative is currently the subject of intense negotiations between the companies, the union (UOCRA) and the authorities.
The head of the Argentine Chamber of Construction (Camarco), Gustavo Weiss, said that the Ministry of the Interiors project will aim at the construction of 100,000 homes per year within the framework of Decree 146/17, which was published on March 6 to modify the Pro.Cre.Ar housing plan. The union rejected the version and said that the project consists of economic and administrative measures to smooth out the activity of companies.
Weiss said in an interview with Tiempo that the companies "made a commitment to meet the demand for middle-class housing." In a market with seven million tenants, the pace of construction promised by the companies makes the objective more difficult from the start. However, among the operators, enthusiasm prevails.
Former Camarco head Juan Chediack told this newspaper that the project to be sent to Congress aims to promote 30-year mortgage loans, among other measures announced in decree 146, such as the granting of loans that can be updated by UVA, UVI and ICC coefficients and the possibility of issuing trusts and Negotiable Obligations for developer companies.
Chediack also anticipated a supposed commitment to lower the prices of materials and other construction costs. At this point he announced that there will be a decrease in Gross Income but, in addition, in keeping with the context, he put the salary issue in the spotlight and assured that there is "a principle of agreement with the UOCRA to relate the salary with the productivity of companies."
The builder acknowledged that the possibility is only just being discussed: "There will be an agreement in principle with the union first regarding the law and then we will continue discussing" the issue of wages, he said.
Aware of the controversy, some businessmen have taken a more cautious approach. Weiss himself stressed that "there was no talk of any kind of flexibility, change of legislation or modification of the agreement." He also categorically denied the alleged initiative to discuss wages based on productivity.
For now, the union has criticized the companies announcements: "They are selling a housing plan, but that is not the case," said a source close to the Secretary General of the UOCRA, Gerardo Martínez. "What there is is a package of administrative and economic measures to facilitate the construction of housing."
The source confirmed that there will be strong participation from public and private banks with loans for construction companies.
Salaries for productivity?
The proximity of the agreement for Vaca Muerta has not only the Uocra but also the rest of the workers on alert, because it set a precedent that threatens to be repeated in the union led by Gerardo Martínez. The businessman Juan Chediack marked the field with the advance of supposed negotiations to discuss salaries based on productivity, but the union ruled out the initiative.
A union source questioned the position of the private leaders who "are selling the agreement as something similar to Vaca Muerta, but the truth is that the union never discussed anything that touches the agreement." He added that "the construction agreement is flexible due to the characteristics of the activity. The builders are migrant workers. If there is a proposal to make it more flexible, I dont think it will work." |
