Senators in Argentina will receive salaries exceeding 11 million pesos in March, as their incomes are linked to the wage increases agreed upon by the authorities of Congress and legislative unions. On Wednesday, these unions agreed on a progressive salary increase from December to May of 12.5% accumulated, according to the Argentine News Agency from legislative sources. For this reason, senators who earned 10.2 million pesos in November will now receive 11 million pesos gross in March and 11.5 million in May, as their raises are tied to the increases in the legislative collective bargaining agreement. In April 2024, the senators decided to link their salaries again to wage increases, which had been suspended by a resolution from Vice President Victoria Villarruel and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem. The decision was made by a show of hands and caused controversy, as some senators stated they disagreed with the measure promoted by the majority of legislators. In contrast, the Chamber of Deputies does not increase its legislators' salaries every time a new collective agreement is signed, but Menem defines those increases, which is why the deputies' incomes are currently around 6 million pesos gross. Legislative workers are paid according to the number of modules, and in the case of senators, it is 2,500 modules for salary, 1,000 for representation, and 500 for relocation. Details: Relocation is not received by the senators from the City of Buenos Aires, the libertarians Patricia Bullrich and Agustín Monteverde, and the kirchnerist Mariano Recalde, nor by the Santa Cruz legislator Alicia Kirchner, who does not collect the salary because she decided to keep her pension as a governor. Norberto Di Próspero, general secretary of the Association of Legislative Personnel (APL). Argentine News Agency/Networks. Agreement: The Association of Legislative Personnel, ATE, UPCN, and the authorities of Congress agreed on a retroactive increase of 2% in December, 2.5% in January, 2.2% in February, which implies a 6.85% accumulated increase, and 2% in March, 1.7% in April, and 1.5% in May. In this way, the accumulated increase from December to May will be 12.5%, as stated in the minutes signed between the unions and the authorities of Congress. The agreement was signed by the general secretaries of APL, Norberto Di Próspero; of UPCN, Martín Roig; and of ATE, Claudio Britos; and the parliamentary secretaries of the Chamber of Deputies, Adrián Pagan, and of the Senate, Agustín Wenceslao Guistian. In a statement, the leaders of the three unions pointed out that the agreement "does not mean a solution to the reality we face as legislative personnel, but rather a relief from it." They added that this "increase of 12.5% is not the end of the negotiations, but a floor from which to continue moving forward."
