At the beginning of his visit, the main UPCP representative, José Niz, spoke about the functioning of his union, which has an Educational Unit, with a free high school for adults “that allows workers to finish secondary school within working hours. There are more than 15,000 who completed their training, and we also have 3 technical courses. Registration is done at the central UPCP on Yrigoyen Street.”
On the work front, he says that “it is complicated. Regardless of the savage adjustment at the national and provincial level, there is a lot of fear among workers to use their rights regarding wages.”
“Today the maximum bonus we have is 500,000 pesos, when the basic basket is greater than 800,000 pesos. 60% of workers are below the poverty line, they cannot cover that basket. And with the new increase in electricity, it becomes impossible to meet other expenses. The majority do not have their own home, they must rent, and there their salary is reduced.”
He stated, and regretted, that “the provincial Executive does not intend to respect the parity, when we talk about the payment of bonuses, transfers to the plant and salaries. Dr. Livio Gutiérrez said unions should see how much other provinces pay. The Zdero government grants 15% in May, another 15% in June and 14.5% in July and considers the claim to be misplaced.”
Analyzing here that “not only is there a denial, but it seems that he does not want to give identity to a very visible situation. They –officials- increased by 147% 20 days after taking office, and today they are reaching 300% with the updates that were given. And there are officials with million-dollar salaries. For example, the Undersecretary of Labor receives almost 2.5 million for this month, when a worker does not cover the minimum wage.”
Precarious human resources
Niz asked to take into account the situation of precarious human resources, receiving amounts of 20 or 50 thousand pesos, or the case of direct hiring or services. “It happens that they take on contract workers, tripling the salary of those hired by primary workers, who have been working for years.”
Later, Niz denounces, as an example, that “in Perrando, there are areas with 70% of precarious personnel, and there are others where this percentage increases, because the vast majority of regular personnel retired. The same thing happens in Social Development, with important units that must work with the community, serving at different stages. “Same Education, with people who are temporarily frozen, with suspended normalization processes.”
By increasing the level of his complaints, he stated that, “there is no dialogue with the Governor, nor with the ministers,” but marking the difference “with Undersecretary Zamudio, who received us and made himself available to assist us and see what things were going to happen.” they could solve. That continues to this day, and he shows that the workers are not intransigent. Not at all”.
He warns that “we respect the governor, but we must build a different reality. We demand the strengthening of services, with many who do not have minimal supplies or equipment. This is more accentuated in the Health areas, without supplies or medicines, or doctors.”
Lack of doctors and serious complaints
After remembering the case of the dead child in Avia Terai, José Niz assured that this “is repeated throughout the province. The lack of doctors is not new, but a long time ago. “They want to force us to guarantee the minimum guard, when that is the responsibility of the Government.”
“There are a series of irregularities with the lack of doctors. There are many who do not have registration and are practicing as doctors,” he observed as a serious complaint. “There are even some who are retired, or with physical motor problems, who still hire them to cover the deficit,”
He also states that the current “is a new paradigm of care. It has been a long time since there has been talk about the fact that surgeries are not satisfied. This is not talked about, because there are almost no anesthetists on staff. They never come out to explain to the citizens how much percentage of the demand is satisfied. And this is an issue that is detrimental to people’s health.”
The situation in the basement of the Government House does not escape José Niz’s general analysis, “where they work in an inhumane situation, because there is no State policy design to improve working conditions”, something that is repeated in the Press area, or in Social Development”.
At the end, the union leader made an exhortation to the Government. “We need to be enabled in the equal sphere. We want to build a different reality for the workers,” and said that in dialogue with other unions in the province, it has been marked as very serious, “that in the UNNE the dropout rate exceeds 50%, to which is added the costs of the cafeteria , transportation and supplies. And I don’t want to think about the percentage at the primary and secondary level.”
”And what can a father do who has to decide whether to pay for electricity or eat,” he asked himself in closing.
