The mandatory union dues in Argentina they produce one annual inflow of $685 million according to a report by Zentrix Consultora for the ten largest unions. This amount results from deductions from the formal salaryeven for unaffiliated workers, and in pesos it is well over a billion per year. “Trade Union Power in Argentina: Structure, Financing and Limits of Worker Freedom” exposes the extent of coercive union financing and reveals a system of high concentration, low transparency and channels that has been maintained for decades thanks to this constant flow of resources.
This emerges from the study the main activity agreements – trade, trucking, construction, health, metallurgy, food, transport, banking, gastronomy and light and energy – bring together almost three million formal employees. The average collection is $327,000 per worker per yearwhich shows the weight of these discounts in the formal salary.
This Mandatory contributions They are set out in agreements adopted decades ago and apply to all workers in the industry, regardless of whether they are members or not. The system acts as a structural allowance for registered formal employmentwhich affects millions of people.
Inequality and lack of control over union dues
The study quantifies the coercive costs that each worker must bear to financially support a union, regardless of their willingness to join. The differences between the agreements are notable: A SMATA employee makes a contribution $719,680 annuallya truck driver $509,340 and a Commerce employee $345,480 per year.
Contribution per employee to the 10 most important unions
This inequality shows the lack of a unified criterion: Discounts vary significantly depending on the guildThis creates an opaque parafiscal system, the amount of which depends on industry agreements and union decisions, without uniform rules or effective control mechanisms.
The report breaks down the financial weight of each union:
- Trade leads with more than $304.6 million per year
- followed by Truckers ($79.5 million)
- construction ($65.7 million)
- SMATA ($56.1 million)
- Health ($32.6 million)
- Metallurgists ($48.3 million)
- Gastronomic ($45.1 million)
- Feed ($24.9 million)
- The Banking ($16.9 million)
- Light and strength ($11.3 million).
All these figures come exclusively from mandatory discounts provided for in collective agreements and applicable to all employees reached.
Annual collection of the 10 most important trade unions
Permanent direction and concentration of power
Crossing these numbers with the development of individual union leadership reveals a clear pattern: Where the collection is larger, the change disappears. In trade, Armando Cavalieri has been at the helm of FAECyS since 1986, in the trucking sector, Hugo Moyano has more than thirty years of union control and in La Bancaria, Sergio Palazzo has more than fifteen years at the helm. At UOM, Abel Furlán continues a tradition of long-term leadership, while at Gastronomic Luis Barrionuevo has been at the helm for more than three decades. Together, the ten unions manage funds amounting to: 0.11% of GDPunder centralized structures and with little electoral competition.
A unique and resisted union model
Argentina holds one Union model with no equivalent in the developed world: uniform union according to activity, collective agreements and compulsory contributions also for non-members. The employee cannot choose alternative representation or avoid discountswhich guarantees large unions a guaranteed flow of funding and a dominant position that is difficult to challenge.
The international contrast is striking: in Europe, union dues are voluntary and dependent on membership; In the United States, the Supreme Court banned mandatory “agency fees” in 2018; In Brazil, the 2017 labor reform abolished the mandatory union tax. The Argentine case is the toughest: high coverage, low internal competition and widespread forced financing.
Social rejection and demand for change
According to the Zentrix Public Opinion Monitor (November 2025) 64% of the population have a negative image of unions and only those 15.2% express a positive image.
67.5% of Argentines support converting mandatory union fees into voluntary ones and more than 82% are not against abolishing the obligation. The prevailing view is that the current system operates as a compulsory rebate without control or clear justification, similar to a labor tax whose fate is uncertain.
In this context, societal demands are growing for a system based on individual consent and greater transparency as a minimum requirement for legitimizing union funding.
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