As the second decade of the 21st century is coming to an end, one of the topics of greatest debate in the academic, business, union and political spheres in many countries of the world is that of wage increases via collective bargaining in the public sector, as a tool for the resolution of labor disputes. This issue is even more relevant in emerging economies, due to the current difficult global economic and geopolitical context, which influences various economic variables, such as the exchange rate, inflation, among others.
In this sense, for the purposes of analyzing this topic, I will take the Peruvian case as a model. In Peru, one of the issues that has generated major labor conflicts in the public sector in recent years has been the lack of attention or delay by the State, of the labor demands presented in its list of claims by the public sector unions, specifically in remuneration matters, a situation that worsened with the enactment of the Civil Service Law (Servir), which is specifically directed at the public sector.
Recently, the Congress of the Republic approved the State Collective Bargaining Law which regulates the exercise of the right to collective bargaining of the state union organizations and allows a debate on the question of salary increases for workers, which - before eventual approval - They must be taken into account in the national budget law.
The proposal and approval of the law was motivated by legislative decrees 1442 and 1450, published by the Executive at the stage when it had legislative powers (June-September of this year) and recently repealed.
The rule allows the parties to determine the increase without reaching an arbitration, which was previously the only existing alternative, since the entities were unable - by law - to increase wages. In this way, the agreements reached in economic matters must be sent by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for their incorporation into the Public Budget Law of the following year.
In this regard, we must remember that Collective Bargaining is a right recognized by the State in accordance with Article 28 of the Political Constitution of 1993, likewise the current legal framework establishes a procedure for voluntary negotiation between workers and employers, in accordance with the guidelines established in ILO Convention 98, ratified by Peru through Legislative Resolution No. 14712.
In addition, conceptually, collective bargaining is the process of dialogue between the representatives of the workers and the employer, in order to reach an agreement aimed at regulating the labor relations between them, such as remuneration and working conditions, having force binding between the parties that adopted it, in the sense of binding them to the people in whose name it was held and to whom it is applicable.
Likewise, they are negotiating subjects, on the one hand, one or several representative organizations of workers such as unions, or if there are not, the representatives duly elected and authorized by them; and on the other an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organizations.
In this sense, there is a legal framework that protects it and for the purpose of achieving, through dialogue, binding agreements on labor relations between the workers' representatives and the employer, I fully agree with the approval of the State Collective Bargaining Law which regulates the exercise of the right to collective bargaining by state union organizations and allows a debate on workers' salary increases, so that unions can negotiate salary increases with the State, in order to find solutions to their demands in a peaceful, fair and transparent manner, with the consequent benefit for the smooth running of the work environment in public institutions and therefore in the country,by having at the service of citizens motivated public workers and involved with the organizational objectives of their institutions.
