Because of the conflict and violence in Chubut, there is a teacher strike throughout the country – 04/09/2019

More of 8 million students across the country, and their families, could be affected this Thursday by a new teacher strike. This time the measure, with national reach, was convened by the Ctera majority teaching union, in repudiation of the aggression that trade unionists suffered from oil workers in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, in the middle of a protest over the delay in payment of wages. Other national teaching unions also repudiated violence, but did not call for a strike, including Sadop, of private school teachers. So, as is often the case with these measures, those who could run out of classes this Thursday are the students who go to state schools.

The conflict over the delay of payment to public employees of Chubut (not only teachers) has been deepening week after week and the Atech teachers' guild – which is part of the Ctera – is among the most combative. In addition to teacher stoppages that are renewed every seven days, they implemented cuts of roads leading to oil fields, such as the crossing of routes 3 and 26 where the violence occurred on Wednesday.

Atech denounces the government of the Peronist Mariano Arcioni of not meet the peer teacher signed in February and that implied an increase of 37.9% for the basic of the sector, plus trigger clause. Before the escalation of the conflict, the provincial education minister Leonardo De Bella had resigned last week, because, he said, he did not want to "end a dead man" on a route.

This Wednesday night, in the center of Comodoro Rivadavia, a massive march gave support to teachers. Hundreds of people, including neighbors and members of trade union and social organizations, approached to repudiate the aggression that teachers suffered on the route.

There is little history of calls for national teacher unemployment due to a provincial conflict. The most remembered was the one convened by Ctera in 2007 after the murder of Professor Carlos Fuentealba in the middle of a protest in Neuquén. This Wednesday, the leaders of Ctera called a press conference in which they reported on the violence in Chubut and called for a strike this Thursday across the country.

"We claim the national government of Mauricio Macri and Minister Finocchiaro that he is breaching the national teacher peer, the law of educational financing, that intervene in the resolution of the conflict, and the government of the province that solves the situation of the teachers and workers of Chubut. That is why we have called for a 24-hour strike, ”said Sonia Alesso, head of Ctera.

“What happens in Chubut is very serious. The absence of the state and the elimination of the national peer generate unfortunate events. The economic policy of the national government creates a scenario as it had not been since 2002, when the provinces stopped paying salaries to teachers and state, ”he told Clarion Eduardo López, trade secretary of Ctera.

This newspaper also spoke with the Minister of National Education, Alejandro Finocchiaro, who said that it is "a conflict of the state of Chubut" and that "the province must answer for the salary increase it granted and cannot pay" Regarding the signaling to the national government, he said that “there is no national parity, Justice has already ruled in the first and second instance” (see page 4).

From the government of Chubut, meanwhile, They blamed Justice for "picket inaction." "This has been three weeks with cuts that are iron, protesters do not allow anyone related to oil, undermining the right to transit, and reserve the right to request documents to those who want to pass," said the Cabinet coordinating minister of Chubut, Federico Massoni.

Ctera is aligned with the CTA. Other national teaching associations, which are part of the CGT, repudiated the violence but did not stop.

“Chubut is a reflection of how bad the education system is in Argentina. The learning process of many children was interrupted due to lack of food. For more than 30 days we have not received salaries in Chubut, health benefits are cut because the social work does not work, and the national government does not take charge under the criterion that educational services are provincial. I should have already intervened. We ask for the food, nutritional and educational emergency. The issue is much more complex than calling a day of unemployment, you have to be reasonable and responsible, the easiest is to call a strike. ”He told Clarion Sergio Romero, head of Uda.

“We comply with the mandatory conciliation in the province. We will participate in the marches in repudiation of the incidents and demand that the governor assume his responsibility. This is not a national problem but of the province. I don't think the national strike is right. ”Added Sara García, from the Amet technical school teachers' guild