Workers who do not belong to a union will no longer be charged unless they have authorized it; The proposal is subject to legislative approval
Argentine President Javier Milei's economic reform decree aims to abolish mandatory union dues in the country. According to the text sent to Congress on Friday (December 22, 2023), employees must explicitly authorize a percentage of the contribution to be deducted from their salary.
The decree abolishes the socalled “solidarity taxes”, a collection tool for trade unions that establishes mandatory discounts for all workers in a job, regardless of whether they are affiliated with the trade union organization or not.
Currently, Argentine workers have 17% of their salary deducted for the National Employment Fund and social services. In addition, all employees in a category receive a discount intended for the union representing the class. The decree maintains the 17% discount but removes the obligation to transfer it to union headquarters. The information comes from the Argentine newspaper A24.
The proposal also weakens unions by removing companies' obligation to withhold union dues from their employees. Milei called extraordinary sessions in parliament to vote on the package. The votes take place in January, the month when representatives and senators usually have a break. Here is the full decree (PDF 425 kB).
SIMILARITIES IN BRAZIL
Milei's idea is similar to what former President Michel Temer's government proposed in 2017. At that time, Temer approved a labor reform that abolished the union tax.
The law approved by Temer stipulates that the contribution must be approved “in advance and expressly” by the employee, just like the Argentine president's proposal.
In Brazil, this understanding prevailed until the second half of 2023. On September 11th, the STF (Supreme Federal Court) decided with 10 votes to 1 on the constitutionality of the socalled aid contribution for unions. This is a fee that will have a similar impact to the old union tax, which was in force until 2017 and brought in more than R$3 billion per year to unions and central associations.
In October there was another chapter about the resumption of this burden on workers in Brazil. This is because the CAE (Economic Committee) of the Federal Senate approved PL (Bill) 2.099 of 2023, which prevents unions from demanding the payment of union dues, support or other fees without the authorization of the employee.
The text approved by the College also established that the contribution linked to collective bargaining can only be collected once a year and during the validity of the agreement or arrangement. The project also requires unions to widely publicize the right to object through all available mechanisms, such as websites, messaging applications or emails.
The PL is still being processed in the upper house and is likely to be one of the main negotiating topics between the Senate and the Ministry of Labor. A few days after the CAE approved the project, Labor Minister Luiz Marinho declared that the union tax would “never come back” and that the tax rate would be negotiated between workers and unions.