Tension grows between the Government and teachers: unions grouped in the CGT also question the start of classes - Infobae
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Crece la tensión entre el Gobierno y los docentes: gremios nucleados en la CGT también ponen en duda el inicio de clases
La postura de los cuatro sindicatos se suma a la de CTERA, encabezada por Roberto Baradel, quienes reclaman una convocatoria para discutir aumentos salariales. El inicio del ciclo lectivo está programado para el 26 de febrero
www.infobae.com
February 14, 2024
The position of the four unions joins that of CTERA, headed by Roberto Baradel, who demand a call to discuss salary increases. The start of the school year is scheduled for February 26
By Eduardo Menegazzi
The teaching unions grouped in the CGT threaten a strike
The teaching unions grouped in the CGT met today and agreed with the leaders of CTERA that if the national teachers' union is not called they will go on strike. Through a statement they warned that without this instrument that appears in article 10 of the Educational Financing Law that was enacted in 1998, the school year is in danger . “We are not – nor are we going to be – responsible for the situation of dissolution of the national educational system that is being pushed by the government.”
The unions UDA (Union of Argentine Teachers), AMET (Association of Technical Teaching Teachers), SADOP (Argentine Union of Private Teachers) and CEA (Confederation of Argentine Educators) expressed that the Secretary of Education, Carlos Torrendell, “ must immediately comply its promise to convene the National Teaching Parity (a tool for dialogue and social peace), in a timely manner, before the start of the school year. All union measures that the organic bodies of our union organizations will henceforth resolve are and will be a natural reaction to their lack of responses .”
They also maintain that “the discussion of the National Minimum Teaching Salary, FONID, teaching materials/connectivity, compensation fund, infrastructure fund and all transfers of funds to the provinces to comply with current regulations is urgent. "You cannot build positively from the non-compliance of one of the parties."
Union sources assured Infobae that they will first resort to administrative channels to channel their requests, but if Education persists in their position they will go to court.
Carlos Horacio Torrendell, the Secretary of Education in the presidency of Javier Milei
They also call on the governors to support these demands just a few days before the start of classes in the different provinces. “We urge the governors to defend the continuity of the National Teacher Parity, and its urgent convocation. We will not allow salary reductions, nor non-compliance with the conquered Laws. Teacher salaries are already mostly located below the poverty line.”
The four unions agree with what was stated this morning in a press conference by CTERA, the Confederation that brings together the majority of the country's teachers. During the 4 years of Alberto Fernández's government CTERA had maintained a low profile, to the point that there was not a single day of strike during the entire period. In fact, Baradel even started classes without having closed the agreement with the government of Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof.
Javier Milei's presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, had pointed out this morning that "what is called national teacher parity, which we all know is not such, that it does not exist, is being evaluated and there is no definition ," regarding the possibility of a call from Torrendell.
Roberto Baradel, head of CTERA
“Let us remember that teacher salaries depend on each of the governors and each jurisdiction is free to agree on the salary they wish with their workers; “Argentine teachers depend on each of the provinces and the city of Buenos Aires,” he added, contradicting the sector's claims.
fter the national government establishes the initial minimum wage (which serves as a floor for the entire country), both each of the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires must negotiate in joint negotiations at the local level, in which determines each particular salary scale, union leaders indicate.
The Educational Financing Law, 26,075, was passed after the long conflict with the installation of the White Tent in front of the National Congress. The national government also did not transfer the money from the Teacher Salary Compensation Fund , which only lower-income provinces collect. In 2023, seven districts received this fund: Catamarca, Chubut, Corrientes, Jujuy, La Rioja, Misiones and Santiago del Estero.
On Friday of last week, the Ministers of Education of the 24 Argentine provinces, within the framework of a two-day meeting of the Federal Council of Education , signed a letter addressed to the Secretary of Education of the Nation, Carlos Torrendel , in which They expressed their concern about the issue.
“The school year is just a few business days away from starting and, if we do not find an urgent response to our legitimate and fair claim, these circumstances not generated by us enable us to initiate all union measures available, including direct action, affecting the beginning of the school year,” concludes the statement from the four teaching unions that was released this afternoon.
