Teacher strike: unions from all over the country join and university students join

The unions that are part of CTERA confirmed their adherence to the measure of force in all provinces.

This Thursday there will be a teaching strike in state schools throughout the country, demanding the restitution of the National Teacher Incentive Fund (FONID) and the “urgent call for the national teachers’ joint meeting”, the instance in which the unions negotiate with the national government the minimum salary for educators. The measure of force is called by CTERA, the majority confederation of teaching unions. On Thursday, university professors from Conadu and Conadu Historica also stop.

CTERA’s claim includes not only the sending of the FONID, but also the Teacher Salary Compensation Fund (which only the provinces with fewer resources receive), financing for technical schools, cafeterias and milk cups, and school infrastructure (especially for the construction of kindergartens and secondary schools).

“They are national funds for which the items in the budget were allocated. The Government had confirmed that it would send them at the national joint meetings, but nothing had yet reached the provinces. The only national fund that was sent is for the fifth hour of class, and something for evaluation,” she told Sonia Alesso, general secretary of CTERA, to Infobae.

The strike is also in demand of “the restitution of a national salary floor”, while the negotiation of the minimum wage remains open. There have already been three meetings between the national unions and the Secretariats of Education and Labor of the Ministry of Human Capital, in which the provincial Ministries of Education also participated. At the last meeting, the official proposal was to raise the minimum teacher salary to $325,000, but the offer was rejected.

Sources from the Ministry of Education told Infobae that they are “in dialogue with all sectors” and confirmed that the salary table is in the middle room. On Wednesday, the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, had assured that the national government “will discount” the day for teachers who join the strike. However, that is a measure that only each province can take.

“We consider that the appropriate path is to deduct the day for those who join the strike because they are days not worked. In this sense, we want to emphasize that students should not be hostages to a union conflict. For this reason, we believe that jurisdictions must arbitrate the necessary means to avoid this situation and we maintain that the discount for the day not worked is a valid tool,” said the Ministry of Education.

In the last meeting with the national government and the provincial ministries of Education, the unions rejected the official proposal to raise the minimum teacher salary to $325,000.

In CABA, the UTE union (which is part of CTERA) adheres to the measure of force, and will participate in a mobilization of the CTA to the National Congress “in defense of retirements and against the adjustment to retirement mobility.” The rally will be at 10:30 on Rivadavia and Rincón avenues. In the province of Buenos Aires, SUTEBA also adheres to the measure. CTERA anticipated that they will launch a signature campaign to “demand the national government guarantee public education throughout the country.”

The date of the strike coincides with the anniversary of the murder of teacher Carlos Fuentealba, on April 4, 2007. As part of the claims, CTERA expressed that it “rejects the security protocol of the national government, which criminalizes social protest.” In Neuquén, the Association of Education Workers (ATEN) will adhere to the measure and will hold an event in the morning in Arroyito, south of the provincial capital, where the repressive operation that killed Fuentealba was carried out.

The teaching unions of Córdoba (UEPC), Entre Ríos (AGMER), Mendoza (SUTE) and Santa Fe (AMSAFE) also confirmed their support for the strike. In this province the situation is especially critical: the provincial joint union remains open and state and private teachers (represented by SADOP) have just been on strike for four days.

In the northern provinces, the unions of Misiones (UDPM), Chaco (Teaching Union Front), Formosa (ADF), La Rioja (AMP), Catamarca (ATECA), Corrientes (SUTECO), Tucumán (ATEP), Salta ( ADP) and Jujuy (ADEP). In Santiago del Estero, SUTESE adheres and the Santiagueño Circle of Secondary and Higher Education Teachers (CISADEMS) expressed that it “supports the demands” that motivate the national strike.

In the provinces of Patagonia, in addition to Neuquén, the guilds of La Pampa (UTELPA), Chubut (ATECH), Río Negro (UNTER), Santa Cruz (ADOSAC) and Tierra del Fuego (SUTEF) join. In Cuyo, also the majority unions of San Juan (UDAP) and San Luis (ASDE).

The national teaching strike coincides with a new anniversary of the murder of teacher Carlos Fuentealba in Neuquén.

At the university level, Conadu and Conadu Historica call for a “national day of struggle in defense of salaries and the public university”, together with the teaching unions of the UBA (FEDUBA and AGD) and with ATE Conicet. At 1:30 p.m. there will be a “banderazo” in Plaza Houssay, in front of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires. The university students had already stopped on March 14.

“Given that in the last few hours the elimination of the FONID has been carried out, while thousands of layoffs are taking place in the State and many more are announced, CONADU reaffirms the call already announced for Thursday, April 4 and actively joins the strike arranged by CTERA for that same date, with activities to raise awareness of the conflict and participation, together with the CTA, in the march to the National Congress against the adjustment of retirements,” the university union entity said in a statement. The force measures will continue on April 10 and 11.

The university joint venture also did not reach an agreement, after the unions rejected the 12% offered in March by the Undersecretary of University Policies. In the midst of the conflict over the budget freeze, the UBA launched a campaign last week to gather signatures against the cut in funding for salaries and operating expenses.

These are times for signature meetings: the Argentine University Federation (FUA) also launched a petition on the Change.org platform to request Secretary Carlos Torrendell that “the university budget increases in line with inflation,” with the aim of ensuring that universities “can continue functioning and forging the future of our country.”

For its part, this Wednesday the Federation of the University of Buenos Aires (FUBA) organized a symbolic “last first day” (UPD) in the Common Basic Cycle (CBC) as a protest action “to denounce the possible cessation of classes in the second quarter in case the cut continues.”

This Wednesday, the FUBA organized a symbolic “last first day” (UPD) at the CBC as a protest action against the budget cut.

The claim by the FONID was judicialized by several provinces, including La Rioja, Misiones, Chubut, Río Negro, La Pampa and Salta. In addition, there are nine bills presented by legislators from different blocks, both in Deputies and Senators, to restore that portion of the teacher salary that the national State has paid since the end of 1998. CTERA warned that the elimination of the FONID “even aggravates “Moreover, the salary situation of teaching, since it means between a 10% and 20% salary reduction, and also affects the educational budgets of the provinces.”

The retirement issue is another of the central demands of the national strike promoted by CTERA, which calls for an “urgent increase in the salaries of retired teachers,” as well as the sending of national funds to provincial pension funds.

The forceful measure comes one day after the Government enabled the website to request vouchers with which it plans to help families pay the fees of private schools whose monthly fee does not exceed $54,396.

“At the same time that public education is defunded, double financing of private education is generated: on supply (subsidies) and now on demand (vouchers). It is an attempt to privatize and commercialize education, which will deepen inequalities,” Alesso believes.

“Vouchers have failed in the world. In Sweden the system did not work; In Chile it generated a terrible educational segregation: poor schools for the poor and rich schools for the rich. It is a measure that privileges one sector of society while harming another,” continued the head of CTERA.

Thursday’s strike does not have the support of the four teaching unions grouped in the CGT: UDA, AMET, SADOP and CEA. “We are meeting permanently, evaluating the scenario. We do not rule out forceful measures later, but we have decided not to go on strike to prioritize dialogue,” Sergio Romero, general secretary of the Union of Argentine Teachers (UDA), told Infobae. “More than half of the teachers in Argentina are poor: we need an urgent reaction from the Government,” Romero added.

ATE announced a national strike for Friday, April 5

The measure of force comes one day after the Sarmiento Palace, headquarters of the Ministry of Education, resumed its activities after the holidays with a security operation due to the layoffs defined by the Ministry of Human Capital. “Solidarity with state workers” is another of the points that CTERA invokes in its call for strike.

In a statement, the Ministry of Human Capital reported that there were 474 “dismissals” in the Ministry of Education since the beginning of President Javier Milei’s administration, which represents a total “savings of $3,210,000,000.” The ministry’s statement reports that in this state agency “32% of the positions occupied by contracted personnel will be reduced” and that since April “146 contracts will not be renewed.” With this measure “720 million pesos will be saved annually,” the document maintains.

From Capital Humano they reported that “3,611 contracts will not be renewed” throughout the ministry and that, if the layoffs in the Secretariats of Education and Labor and in Anses are added, “we have so far saved 29,390 million pesos annually.”

Among the reasons for the dismissals – which also cover the Secretariats of Culture, Protection against Gender Violence, and Children, Adolescents and Family – the Ministry of Human Capital mentions “work areas where there were more people than positions/desks.” ”, “staff who showed up at the office irregularly and for only a few hours”, people “without functions” or who “could not explain the tasks they performed”, as well as “people with significantly low levels of productivity”.

The ministry’s statement points out that “another example is that there were 35 drivers, mostly assigned to officials,” and that “the new administration has defined that only the secretary and the undersecretaries who report to him have this service.” Among other reasons, he assures that “personnel whose only function was internal or external political militancy have also been separated,” as well as the “reduction or elimination of tasks that can be carried out electronically.”

Thursday’s will be the third national teaching strike of 2024. CTERA had already carried out one on February 26, coinciding with the start of classes in the City of Buenos Aires and in the provinces of Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Mendoza , San Luis and Santa Fe. For their part, the four CGT teaching unions went on strike on March 4, coinciding with the beginning of classes in Catamarca, Chaco, Chubut, Jujuy, Misiones, Neuquén, Salta, San Juan, Santa Cruz, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán.