The Santa Fe Legislature approved on Thursday the pension reform promoted by Governor Maximiliano Pullaro amid police repression against protesters who were in the vicinity of the legislative palace.
The vote was 23 in favor, nine against and 11 abstentions. In addition, there were six absentees. But while the pension reform was being debated, protesters from teachers’ and state unions who had been outside the Legislature since early morning wanted to enter the premises to be present at the vote. During the police operation, fences had been placed at the side and rear entrances to the provincial parliament.
The incidents outside the legislature and the clashes in the chamber reached their highest point after the vote, when different opposition voices with their own support questioned the validity of the law’s approval. They maintain that it was not valid due to the circumstances surrounding the debate. Among those voices was that of former Peronist governor Omar Perotti.
Although the vote was divided, the ruling party added internal wills and asserted its majority in the chamber. Among its main points, the norm declares the emergency of the Santa Fe pension system, increases the percentage of contributions from active workers, reduces effective salaries, establishes limits on pension benefits and modifies the widow’s pension system for those who access this benefit at an early age, since it is considered that the person is in working conditions.
The provincial project was launched in parallel with the veto of the national retirement law that was approved yesterday in Congress, with the support of the PRO and five radicals who prevented the opposition from obtaining the two-thirds of the votes to insist on the initiative.
