Argentine teaching unions call for a national strike for this Thursday

Published at: 20/05/2024 10:57 PM

Argentine teachers called for a national strike, for next Thursday, May 23, due to the lack of progress in negotiations with the government, the Telesur website reported.

He points out that according to Argentine media, the decision, which is the third since Javier Milei took office, calls for “a wage recomposition and greater funding for universities and public schools.”

According to the statement issued by the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA), the national strike is based on “the lack of answers to wage, labor and educational funding demands”, and particularly on the non-compliance by the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, who had promised a response.

Added to these disagreements are an “urgent call to the National Teaching Parity, the restoration of the National Teacher Incentive Fund (FONID), the increase in the educational budget and funding for school infrastructure”, as well as the sending of funds for school canteens and educational programs”.

Teachers are also calling for an emergency increase in teacher and retiree salaries, to be transferred from Provincial Funds to the Nation “nor to the modification of teacher retirement regimes”, as well as the “cessation of dismissals and reinstatement of dismissed workers in educational areas”.

Faced with the approach of the national strike, the Secretary of Educational Policies of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Sergio Romero, who serves as leader of the Argentine Teachers Union (UDA), confirmed that a press conference will be held this Tuesday at 15:30 and that he will seek to “provide details on the strike scheduled for Thursday”.

Romero said that “a country shows what it wants to be when education is a priority, but for this government, obviously, education is not a priority.”

The leader also warned that “the government refuses to give continuity to FONID, which further reduced teacher salaries. In addition, it does not reach 6% of GDP investment in education, as provided for in education funding laws. This left out important programs such as the distribution of books and netbooks to students.”

Since last December, the CTERA has called on the Argentine government to comply with its demands. Disinterest on the part of government authorities has caused “the loss of purchasing power” of teachers' salaries, as well as “educational defunding in all areas”.

Currently, pedagogues' salaries only reach 250,000 pesos, which is not enough to meet their basic needs.

Mazo News Team