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Nestlé Panama and the
Industrial Packaging, Food
and Related Workers Union (SITEA)
are at the final stage of
negotiations for a new
collective bargaining
agreement.
Sirel spoke with
Marcelino Macías Reyes,
general secretary of the
union, to learn more about
this process of negotiation
and what it will entail for
280 workers in two plants.
-When did negotiations
begin?
-We started on November 14,
2011, and of the 79 clauses
in the List of Demands, we
reached an agreement on 68.
So we're about 87 percent
through.
Of the clauses agreed on,
half contain improvements in
benefits, such as grants -
which increased in number
and amounts -, union hours,
per diems, and food tickets,
among others.
Generally speaking, we can
say that so far,
negotiations have proceeded
as we expected.
-But there are still some
obstacles ahead...
-Yes. One obstacle is that
this month the government
readjusted the National
Minimum Wage (NMW),
which in Panama is
adjusted by branch of
activity and by region. In
our case, in one of the
regions where the company
operates there was a
category upgrade, which
entailed a 36 percent
increase in the NMW
plus a more than 15 percent
general increase for the
dairy industry.
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We still have to agree on the company's general raise, which in our case does
not discriminate by category or seniority. |
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We have a minimum wage
established by collective
bargaining agreement, which
in certain categories is now
below the NMW. The
company is already applying
that increase for workers
who are paid fortnightly, so
that in that sense it has
adjusted payments to legal
provisions.
But, we still have to agree
on the company's general
raise, which in our case
does not discriminate by
category or seniority. If it
increases one dollar per
day, that's the amount we
all get.
-And what do you think is
going to happen with these
economic clauses that still
need to be settled?
-There are some difficult
issues. This raise in the
NMW, which the company
called ‘surprising’ and said
affected fixed costs, means
the company will feel
entitled to insist on the
20.80 U.S. dollar a month
raise it proposed.
This is likely to spur a
heated discussion, as the
difference is large.
-Also, the wage pyramid has
become smaller now. There is
a shorter distance between
the highest and the lowest
salaries. In a sense, the
previous category structure
is eliminated.
-That's the huge problem we
have, because some workers
have up to 15 years of
seniority, and they're now
earning very close to the
minimum wage. This is
generating a lot of
dissatisfaction among
workers.
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