The five keys that allowed the agreement of the new farm agreement in Extremadura

Memorize a few figures to be clear about what the new farm agreement in Extremadura is going to be like, which will be signed next week and advanced by TODAY at 2:44 a.m. this morning. A new regulatory framework for labor relations between agricultural entrepreneurs and day laborers that, as is evident, assumes from the outset what is established by law in terms of the changes introduced in the labor reform with the generalization of contracts for permanent discontinuous workers and the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI). The first figures to keep are deduced from the SMI: each worker will have a minimum base salary of 1,000 euros for 39 hours of work per week distributed in ordinary daily shifts of a maximum of six and a half hours.

In total, an annual working day of 1,768 hours is set by agreement, which means not increasing it, compared to the initial claim of the agricultural professional organizations that it rise to “compensate” the rise in wages due to the increases in the SMI.

Second noteworthy amount: each worker linked by the field agreement will receive 30 euros per year as a new bonus, the so-called agreement bonus.

The third noteworthy legal aspect of the new field agreement was the one that, in the end, was assuming the most obstacles and was the maintenance of the existing bonuses (seniority, above all, but also night or transport). The employers’ side, represented by the agrarian organizations and the Association of Fruit Growers (Afruex), proposed that the rise in wages of each laborer thanks to the increase in the Minimum Wage be the one that would absorb those bonuses, which would not be paid separately. The unions replied: the base salary must be paid plus the supplements to which the workers are entitled. The latter is what will be signed next week. “In this way, workers will not lose purchasing power or already consolidated bonus rights. This is the reality,” says Ricardo Salaya, general secretary of the UGT Agro Federation.

With the maintenance of bonuses finally agreed (salary tables have been called in recent times), another obstacle has also been closed between the two parties: how to determine seniority in the case of discontinuous permanent workers after the development of the labor reform . From now on, instead of calculating that bonus per three years, five years will be taken into account, with a rise of 5% for every five years worked to determine that seniority complement. It approaches the postulates defended by the agrarian organizations.

The last key figure, not fundamental but relevant because it is striking, is that the 15 minutes for each agricultural worker’s sandwich are maintained within the working day of six and a half hours per day.

In principle, the new labor agreement that is signed is retroactive, to be applied as of January 1. The question not yet closed is how long it will be valid. A minimum of one year…and perhaps a maximum of three. It is the only great doubt to resolve in this matter.