Civil construction workers’ wages will increase by 5.25%

After nationwide mobilizations by civil construction workers demanding better salaries, an agreement was finally reached with the Peruvian Chamber of Construction (Capeco).

Thus, an increase was established in the basic daily wage of S/4.20 for operators, S/3.30 for officers and S/3 for laborers.

In this way, an increase of 5.25% is achieved in the three aforementioned categories. In detail, wages for eight hours will be set at S/80.70, S/66.45 and S/59.80respectively.

The validity will be from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024.

Likewise, it was agreed to increase the Bonus for High Specialization (BAE) for welders, which will go from 15% to 17%, and for electromechanical workers, from 18% to 20%.

It was also agreed to create a training fund for workers in the sector, whose financing will be the responsibility of employers who will contribute S/0.20 daily for each employee.

Background

Initially, after seven meetings with the direct treatment table, the Federation of Civil Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP) did not reach agreement in the collective bargaining with Capeco regarding the increase in wages.

This was because the business union offered a maximum of S/3, an improvement that did not even reach half of what was requested by the union, which as its first proposal sought an increase of S/10.

For his part, Guido Valdivia, executive director of Capeco, expressed that he hoped to be able to continue negotiating. This happened and finally a consensus was reached. The final act of agreements for the period 2023-2024 will be signed today.

It should be noted that last year the increase was higher and reached S/6.20, since the annual inflation of 8.99% was taken into account. In contrast, for this current period an annual rate of 7.99% was considered.

Historical agreements

Collective bargaining in the construction sector has been present since 1963, when the National Commission of the Construction Industry was created to evaluate salaries and resolve problems in the sector.

However, it was unregulated during the government of Alberto Fujimori in 1995.

“we had to fight until 2003 to recover that right. Since 2004 to date we have been resolving through direct agreements with Capeco,” he said. louis villanuevageneral secretary of the FTCCP to La República.

Casualties in the construction sector

By the end of 2023, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) expects that construction activity will be one of the four sectors that will show a drop. In this case, -3.5%.

Likewise, in recent months it has shown a downward trend. In July it experienced a drop of 4.9%, due to the negative performance in domestic cement consumption, a trend that has continued since September 2022, according to the Peruvian Chamber of Construction (Capeco).

Furthermore, employment in the sector also decreased 12.8% between April and June.

The word

Luis Villanueva Carbajal, general secretary of the FTCCP

“Collective bargaining by branch in the construction sector has been in force since 1963. But it should be noted that Capeco and the Federation established direct solutions only 20 years ago.”