(Luciano González)
Unions and business chambers that operate bus lines in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), agreed on a salary improvement, so the strike announced for next Friday was lifted. Thus began to unravel a complex joint negotiation that already caused a stoppage of services two weeks ago.
“It’s 50 and 50,” said Luciano Fusaro, vice president of AAETA, one of the business chambers, upon entering, about the possibilities of coming out with an agreement that was finally reached. From that entity, it was reported that a non-remunerative sum of $250,000 was agreed to be paid on May 15 and another of the same amount to be paid on June 15.
The representatives of the five chambers of groups and union members of the Automotive Tram Union (UTA) began the meeting around 2 p.m. and ended it after 7 p.m. The executives of the companies that operate the lines in the AMBA arrived at the headquarters of the labor portfolio after having held a last-minute meeting with the Secretary of Transportation, Franco Mogetta, who assured them that a recalculation of the cost structure carried out by that ministry would result in an unspecified portion of greater subsidies from the Nation, which could bring positions closer together at the table.
The UTA, at the end of the meeting, stated in a statement: “To date we have reached a partial agreement with the Business Chambers that consists of a non-remunerative fixed sum of $500,000 payable in two equal and consecutive installments of Pesos $250,000 with payment dates of May 15 and June 14. We know that we cannot give up our salary, that is why we continue with the discussion.” The union entity also highlighted that “the salary discussion remains open.”
The union demanded that the drivers be paid with the March salary paid at the beginning of April a sum of $250,000 that they consider valid according to the last salary agreement approved by the labor portfolio. For companies, the equation does not allow them to give that remuneration increase without an update of the subsidies that come down from Transportation or without being able to charge the most expensive ticket.
The union also considers that a new force measure that suspends all services in the AMBA could be “costly” in terms of reputation, and is analyzing alternatives. One of them, although it was not decided after several hours of the meeting, is that the buses go out on the streets normally but that the SUBE registers are turned off, that is, that users travel for free. The use of cards in the units is one of the ways that companies can then request subsidies from the Ministry of Transportation.
Companies in the sector believe that the Government is working with an estimate that the bus fleet in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) has 3 thousand units left over and that is why they are pushing hard for the number of subsidies. Transport has been, for two months, under the wing of the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo, who has just announced a financial surplus in the first quarter of the year after a strong adjustment of public accounts. President Javier Milei announced that he will not change the spending profile in the coming months.
In a document released this Tuesday, the Argentine Association of Automotive Transport Companies (Aaeta) assured that there are 4 million people who use the bus system in the AMBA, and that 82.5% of the trips made in that region are they do in groups. “It has 18 thousand units, distributed among 387 lines, employing more than 50 thousand workers,” they estimated.
“The income of the sector is regulated by the State, who determines the level of rates and compensation to be received. The subsidies do not arise from sworn statements presented by the companies, but from the calculation of the sector’s costs carried out by the Ministry of Transportation itself. This calculation includes operation costs, investment and business profit,” Aaeta calculated.
The chambers estimate that they need at least 50,000 million pesos in subsidies to operate normally, without adding to that account the salary cost, which represents slightly less than 45% of the operating budget. If there were, they say, a cut in the size of the vehicle fleet, they could decide on reductions in services, with a lower frequency of services, especially at night and in what is known in the sector as the “valleys” between peak hours. , such as between 3 and 4 p.m. A source from the sector went further and estimated that between all the collective chambers they could get rid of about 10,000 employees if the financial equation continued without closing them.
Two weeks ago there was a first 24-hour strike carried out by the UTA for the same reason that would lead to a second measure of force this Friday. “Arrived at this stage in an effort to maintain social peace, and in order to normalize the public transportation service of the AMBA, the usual tasks will be resumed starting at 0 a.m. tomorrow, April 12, informing of the business chambers, as well as the enforcement authority, which is established as the last deadline to address the salary differences owed, until April 25 of this year, date from which, if they are not accredited, the retention of tasks will be resumed,” the UTA warned on the day of the first strike.
