“We want two francs a week to be less exposed to asbestos and that the Buenos Aires government buy a new fleet as promised,” they told Page 12 from the Association of Subway and Premetro Workers (AGTSyP), which this Monday carried out a rotating 24-hour strike on all the lines of the Buenos Aires subway. The measure of force is part of the fight plan that the guild started a month and a half ago to reclaim the removal of carcinogenic material from the subway, and that included staggered strikes and by time segments. In addition, they denounce that the days of unemployment were deductedwhile the Buenos Aires chief of staff, Felipe Miguel, accused of wanting to “extort” with the strikes.
The first measure of strength this year was the past March 29. That day, the union paralyzed lines B and C for the first two hours of service. Since then, the claim of the workers has been maintained with stoppages of activities and flyers at the stations to explain to the users why they ask to reopen the joint table: to Discuss the process of destroying the subway and raising the demand for the reduction of the working day, adding one franc a week. So far they work 36 hours a week divided into six days with a single franc. “We want two francs because we need to be less exposed to asbestosnow explained to Page 12 Francisco Ledesma, secretary of Occupational Health of the union.
This Monday the cessations of activities became 24 hour strike. It was mainly as a “self-defense” measure, after the union denounced that “Emova made arbitrary and illegal discounts in the salaries of more than 200 workers.” The strike this Monday was rotating, with three-hour slots for each line. “The paritaria is expired and we are not called. We want them to open it and that the GCBA buy new fleet as it promised to do in March“Ledesma added about the claim, which also includes salary requests.
According to the figures handled by the workers, they are three deceased people for reasons related to asbestos since they discovered in 2018 that this material was present in the subway fleet. “Two workers who died of cancer from exposure to asbestos were recognized by the Superintendence of Occupational Risks. Another worker died of cancer in 2020 and his case is in the process of being recognized, “the union specified in a statement in which they added that”84 employees have pleura disease and six developed cancer from exposure to asbestos.
“Since 1991, the national government ruled that it is necessary to use protective measures to be less exposed to asbestos and since 2003 there is a national law that prohibits all work in asbestos confined environments. It is a public health issue because it is a means of mass transportation where one should not be exposed to carcinogenic material,” the Secretary of Occupational Health warned in this regard.
On the other hand, they argue that the deforestation process is underway and that workers are not at risk. Emova assures that the City’s Labor Protection Directorate ruled that “the conditions are adequate for the development of the activity” and that “the levels of maximum permissible concentration of asbestos fibers do not exceed the established limits in current regulations”. They also maintain that they continue with the process of removing the asbestos in the framework of a Asbestos Commission.
“What they have released so far is because we are claiming and fightingbut since 2003 they should have started to remove it and tell us that there was asbestos in our workplaces,” replied Ledesma. The subway worker added that the presence of the dangerous material was confirmed by “records in the Ministry of Labor, by a board of specialists of the British Hospital, by the Ombudsman and by Justice”. From the AGTSyP they add that there is no formal plan deforestation with a specific designated budget.
On Monday morning, the Buenos Aires chief of staff, Felipe Miguel, said in statements to Radio Miter that the subway workers “are looking to extort through these methods“. The official confirmed the company’s version and assured that “we have been working for more than five years on a de-bestialization program.”
He also confirmed that Emova deducted parts of the workers’ salaries and went even further: “Telegrams are sent to homes to intimidate them to return to work and more severe sanctions will be applied if this persists,” he assured. On this, Ledesma responded to this newspaper that “What the company does is deduct our salary for claiming not to die.”
