President Javier Milei's government is under pressure after it emerged that his two key leaders in Congress had signed off on a 30-percent pay hike for lawmakers.
The presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Martín Menem and Victoria Villarruel, decided to approve a move to increase Congress employees’ wages by 30 percent to cover losses against inflation over January and February.
As well as congressional staff, this includes the 329 national legislators, who will see their pay packets improve as a resuilt.
News of the move caused a stir on social media, given that President Milei campaigned on a promise to tackle the "political caste" and cut spending.
The libertarian leader has called Congress a "rats' next" and has repeatedly claimed “there’s no money” as he has introduced sweeping austerity measures.
Milei himself said he disagreed with the decision to raise wages, claiming in a TV interview on Thursday that “a lot of people are a lot worse off with a lot less money.”
“I don’t want to hear that they can’t make ends meet," he said.
An article by journalist Noelia Barral Grigera for the Cenital website revealed, through the featuring three deputies’ pay slips, that wages had increased by 29.92 percent from January to February.
It is worth noting that this is an increase that is well above the average of collective bargaining rises for the first half of 2024.
Thus, a national deputy went from collecting 1,567,000 pesos in January to 1,984,000 pesos in February.
This is also in addition to the so-called 'uprooting' or relocation bonus many deputies and senators not representing Buenos Aires City, coach and plane tickets and agency expenses.
Early on, a resolution that had been signed by La Libertad Avanza officials established that collective bargaining for Congress employees would bring a 16 percent increase in January and 12 percent in February.
However, it did not specify that it would also apply to the salaries of deputies and senators. Eventually, the payslips attested to it – despite the government's attempts to sweep it under the carpet.
The decision, which was made on February 23, comes in the wake of more pay controversies. Last week, Federico Sharif Menem, aged 23, was appointed to a post with a monthly salary of nearly two million pesos, at the office of the President of the Chamber of Deputies.
He was appointed to the role by his uncle, Martìn Menem. “He’s my most trusted person, my eyes, my shadow, he’s everywhere,” his uncle once removed said in his defence.
'Had to'
“Both Martín [Menem] and Victoria [Villarruel] had to sign the increases for people in Congress, so that happened as a result," Milei argued Thursday.
"Obviously, given the situation of the country, I told Martín to take that clause off and move forward with something separate and let politicians vote to see what they want to do with their allowances so they are exposed to society,” the president claimed on Thursday.
“I don’t agree with the pay rises. I understand they may have needs, but there are 60 percent poor Argentines and over 10 percent destitute. I don’t want to hear they can’t make ends meet, because tthere are a lot more people a lot worse off with a lot less money,” he said.
The hike sparked outrage online and the pushback was felt by the Casa Rosada. A day after reports first emerged, Milei met with Menem and head of the PRO caucus, Cristian Ritondo, to analyse how to rollback on the promise.
Martín Menem posted the following on his X account: “By orderrof President Javier Milei, we will present a bill to GO BACK ON the increased granted automaticaly to deputies and senators, due to resolution 0013/11, signed by former president of the Senate Amado Boudou and former president of the Chamber of Deputies Julián Domínguez in 2011."
“Deputies and senators must under no circumstances be beyond the sacrifice the Argentine people are making to get out of the crisis," said Menem, who signed off on the raise.
– TIMES/NA
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