With less than a week to go before the beginning of the school year, most districts have yet to seal salary-increase agreements, while some provinces have already announced classes will not start as scheduled. The situation affects millions of students.
“Classes in Catamarca, Tierra del Fuego and Entre Ríos will not begin on Monday,” a source from the Education Minstry told the Herald.
At press time, teachers’ unions of Buenos Aires province, the country’s largest district, were analyzing an offer made yesterday by the Daniel Scioli administration.
A meeting between President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration and the five major teachers’ unions originally scheduled for yesterday has been postponed until today.
Teachers had already met with Education Minister Alberto Sileoni and Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich on Monday, saying “the national government was willing to seal a deal” before the beginning of the school term. But yesterday most union leaders insisted on demanding a pay floor of 6,000 pesos — a 38.6 percent hike from last year’s figures — and the conclave was cancelled before it could even begin.
Following the dictates of the education regulations passed during the administration of late former president Néstor Kirchner, federal salary negotiations set a nationwide floor in all districts.
DIFFERENT SCENARIOS
The frantic rushing to try to find a solution to teachers’ wage demands is a scene that repeats itself every year. And 2015 doesn’t look to be an exception.
The latest Buenos Aires provincial government proposal — which most unions did not reject outright — is around 29 percent, including the eight-percent increase already granted for the first two months of the year.
If teachers approve the offer, their starting salary will increase to 7,000 pesos a month — more than the current 5,414 pesos, but less than the 9,000 pesos demanded by the UDOCBA union, close to anti-government CGT umbrella union leader Hugo Moyano.
As in other districts, a key discusion revolves around the possibility of incorporating under-the-table sums into the salary slip — meaning they will count toward pensions and other benefits.
Last night, the government led by Scioli — who likely is eager to close any negotiations before delivering his state-of-the-union address to the provincial legislature — offered teachers to progressively add those sums to the basic salary.
In Córdoba, the country’s second largest district, the UEPC teachers’ union yesterday accepted the wage offer made by the José Manuel de la Sota administration. But not everyone was happy: teachers dissatisfied with the agreement approved by union leaders staged a protest in front of the UEPC headquarters, union leader Juan Monserrat told local newspaper La Voz del Interior.
Incidents between teachers and police officers ended in arrests, while Monserrat insisted on praising the deal.
“We’ll end the month with a salary of 8,000 pesos that will rise to 8,150 (pesos) in July. In November, the government will begin to add under-the-table sums to the basic salary,” the UEPC leader said.
Meanwhile, negotiations in Buenos Aires City fell through on Monday after unions rejected an offer by Education Minister Esteban Bullrich.
“We asked for (a) 38 percent (hike), they offered 28 percent,” UTE-Ctera union leader Eduardo López told reporters.
Students in La Pampa, Santa Fe and Santiago del Estero will begin classes normally.
Most work stoppages in Argentina are carried out by teachers’ unions, according to a recent report by Labour Ministry advisor Sebastián Etchemendy, who analyzed all strikes registered in the country between 2006 and 2012.
Last year, classes did not begin on time in 19 provinces. In BA province, teachers staged a 17-day strike which took a bite out of the popularity of both unions and the Scioli administration.
Herald staff with online media