The week that begins will be key for the negotiations between the Government of Martín Llaryora and the provincial teachers. The last agreement ended with May salaries and in the coming days the parties should close a new one, in line with what the rest of the state unions have already done.
The ball is now on the side of the Civic Center, which must respond to a broad proposal that the Union of Educators of the Province of Córdoba (UEPC) handed over to it in the first meeting between the parties last week.
There, the union that represents more than half of the provincial public employees demanded, as a key point, that the monthly increases follow the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) 100%, and not in a percentage, as happened in the agreement they reached in the first months of 2024.
In addition, they seek a greater recomposition to compensate for the loss of purchasing power in the sector and measures in line with the hierarchization of management positions.
“We already had the first meeting with the Government and we brought a proposal. There we tell you that we have already made an enormous effort in this first semester. That was what the Governor asked of all state employees,” said Roberto Cristalli, general secretary of the UEPC, in statements to La Tiza, the union’s program.
And he added: “But Llaryora promised that in the second semester, if collection issues grew, he would also improve salary offers. Although the inflation parameters are not what we all want, the truth is that the Province has received more funds from the Nation.”
Cristalli refers to the strong increase in May in the Province’s income from national resources, basically due to co-participation. At the UEPC they are attentive to this data and are looking for Llaryora to fulfill his promise.
Collection and little data
Indeed, in May, Córdoba received an unprecedented increase in national income from the expiration of earnings of the companies, which had extraordinary benefits in December, after the devaluation when Javier Milei took office at the Casa Rosada.
Although the Province, until this Sunday, had not published the total collection (including its own income), data from the National Directorate of Provincial Affairs says that Córdoba received national transfers for $ 425.9 billion in May, a 368, 2% more – nominally speaking – than in the same month of 2023.
Discounting an estimated interannual inflation of 280% for last month, the increase in national resources available to Llaryora was in the order of 23.2%. “Strange that they have not yet reported how much the total collection increased.” asked yesterday a senior UEPC manager who acknowledged that they are waiting for the data to bring it to the negotiating table.
CPI at 100% and recomposition
“We want them to pay us the full CPI, 100% of inflation. We also want to recover salary at this stage that we are going to negotiate,” Cristalli said. To then detail that the proposal also seeks to prioritize management positions.
We accompany the Ministry of Education in the idea of working for a teaching career, but for that we must also give economic conditions to the colleagues who decide to take charge of management, with a salary that is, first, an aspiration, and that has an assessment in economic resources as well. There is little point in running for a managerial position and it is not economically convenient,” he added.
The UEPC also demands in the proposal the taking office of all those who competed for vice directors, directors and supervisors last year and were not appointed. “They have already met all the requirements, they won the contest, the law establishes 90 working days and they have not yet been executed,” said the general secretary of the UEPC, while explaining that they are going for a recomposition for the teachers of the Provincial University in relation to the Fonid.
Bands, contributions and Apross
Another important point presented by the teachers is the issue of changes in the law regarding extraordinary retirement contributions. “When the salary bands were established in December, they were up to $750,000 2%, up to one million 3% and after one million 4%. But these values were not updated either by the CPI or by the salary guideline, which caused the discounts to increase, because the bands were passed when taking the gross ones. More and more are being discounted. We intend for this to be retroactive to April so that the extraordinary discounts that have been made are corrected and accompany the process of salary recovery,” Cristalli said.
And he expanded: “We are also working with the rest of the unions on the issue of the suspension of the deferral for the payment of retirees and the suspension or elimination of the Foseat, which is the extraordinary fund that they intend to charge us, which for now is suspended until the 30th. June but that in July Apross wants to apply it.”
Another important issue is the updating of the values for voluntary members in Apross, which in May was done, according to the union, “even above inflation.” “We demand that the salary increase be done,” he added.
As in the last joint negotiations, the idea is to go for an agreement that lasts three or four months. “You can’t go any further in today’s Argentina,” Cristalli said.
