The new joint union reactivated a latent conflict between wholesalers and the hard core of the traditional wage bargaining system. After signing the agreement by FAECyS, CAC, CAME and UDECTo up toUpdate the salaries of 1.2 million workers, lThe Argentine Chamber of Distributors and Self-Service Wholesalers (CADAM) strongly opposed the automatic contribution increases and the contributions that skyrocket with every salary increase. “We don’t feel represented; They give us the bill for a table that we don’t attend“, they explained.
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The sector questions the stability of what it calls “Hidden costs” of formal employment: additional wage costs that increase with every parity, even if the employees do not receive the supposedly associated benefits. These costs apply to wholesalers undermine competitiveness, encourage informality and move on to prices at the endwhich affects consumption.
Among the Compulsory contributions, the most controversial being the contribution to the Argentine Institute for Vocational Training (INACAP). whereby a fee is set accordingly 0.5% of the Maestranza A category salary for each employeeeven if you never receive any training. With every salary increase, the institute automatically increases its collection, which, according to court statements, exceeds $30 billion per year.
CADAM claims that this mechanism benefits the very chambers that make up the common table – CAC and CAME – by giving them access to more and more funds under the pretext of “institutional strengthening”. The problem, they claim is that the wholesaler does not take part in this negotiation, but still has to comply with the derived fees.
The conflict then escalated Decree 149/2025 by Minister FEderico Stützenegger, which prohibited imposing compulsory contributions on employers who are not affiliated with the beneficiary institutions. However, a precautionary decision in favor of INACAP exempted it on the grounds that it was an independent body, allowing the contribution to remain in force.
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The list of positions that are reassessed in each joint venture also includes the La Estrella supplementary pension insurancewhich requires a contribution from June 2025 1.6% of salary of every worker.
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Added to this is the respondent COVID-19 solidarity contribution to OSECACcreated in 2021 during the pandemic and still in force even if the employee is not connected to this social work. For CADAM, this contribution lost all reasonableness and became a distorting burden without health or contractual justification.
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Given this scenario, the Chamber of Wholesale clearly states its position on the government-sponsored labor reform: support a profound transformation that abolishes compulsory contributions without compensation, reduces additional burdens and protects the competitiveness of SMEs.
“The current system penalizes those who formalize. When we want registered employment.”We can no longer hide costs behind a payslip or purchase receipt.“, they emphasized. In addition, they propose to convert the funds allocated to institutes and insurance companies directly into a salary for the employee, so that the same increases feed not external structures, but the real income of the employee.
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CADAM also claims a institutional change: that they are allowed to join the joint board of the largest union in the country. “We do not understand why the Minister of Labor does not let us sit. We cannot continue funding decisions that are made without our participation,” they noted.
The conflict is once again putting the burden of non-wage labor costs under the microscope in a country with high levels of informality, strong tax pressures and collective agreements whose elements were created decades ago. The government wants to push forward reforms to align incentives, limit mandatory contributions and make the structure of formal employment transparent. The unions defend the current mechanisms. Traditional chambers, in turn, are resisting changes that could lead to cuts in institutional funding.
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