The National Interuniversity Council (CIN) expressed its “deep concern at the impossibility of finding agreements at the national joint level that would allow for the necessary and urgent recomposition of the salaries of teaching and non-teaching workers at universities.”
The CIN Executive Committee held a meeting to monitor the state of Argentine public universities. In a statement, he expressed that he maintains the “state of alert regarding the salary situation that teaching and non-teaching workers in the university system are going through.”
In that sense, they expressed “total support” for the “just claim.” And they asked for “will and decision on the part of the national government to invest the funds to reverse the loss of purchasing power of wages within the framework of the inflationary process.”
“There is no excellent education without decent salaries, so an urgent response is essential that does not harm the enormous effort that our communities have made throughout this first semester to guarantee conditions that allow the normal functioning of our universities,” they indicated. the rectors in support of the claim maintained by the university workers.
No answers from Pettovello
Gathered in the University Union Front, teachers and non-teachers from the more than 60 national universities in the country carried out new force measures this past Tuesday and Wednesday for salary restructuring.
In the case of the teachers of the National University of the Litoral, a local conflict was added due to the rejection of the elimination of the salary supplement for “rural area” for the personnel who carry out their tasks at the School of Agriculture, Livestock and Farm of Esperanza.
Almost two months after the massive march to demand the university budget, the unions point out that they had no responses from the Ministry of Education, which depends on the Ministry of Human Capital, in the face of a loss of purchasing power that they say exceeds 40% .
Along these lines, the Trade Union Front of National Universities expressed in a statement that “Minister Pettovello lied” pointing out that “in the last joint meeting she promised to process the funds in the Economy and did not comply.”
To make the claim visible, university strikes are carried out under various modalities, with open classes, flyers, demonstrations and even a torchlight march in defense of public education. Credit: Manuel Fabatia / Archive. “The government had advanced the call for a joint meeting in which it would bring a salary recovery proposal scheduled for Thursday, June 6, which was never called,” they added from the Trade Union Front.
After this week’s double strike, they warned that it had a “very high level of adhesion”, which is why they considered that it provides a “strong basis to deepen the fight plan.”
See alsoStrike of national universities: chronology to understand the teaching conflict In this way, it is expected that in the coming days, if a new joint call is not finalized, new force measures will be announced in national universities.
“The deepening of the joint struggle plan is a direct consequence of the lack of response to the legitimate claims of teaching and non-teaching workers throughout the country. We cannot wait any longer. There is no quality public university without decent salaries,” they noted.
Budget progress
In contrast, the rectors highlighted that the Government confirmed the allocation of the inflation adjustment of 270% for operating expenses, which will be received from June to December 2024, “in accordance with the agreement reached by the CIN with the national authorities that attended the sustained claim in that regard.”
At the same time, the CIN authorities reported that they began the technical meetings to prepare the 2025 University Budget and that they will begin, in the months of June and July of this year, to settle the 2023 debt of pending resolutions.
See also270% increase in operating expenses: there was an agreement between universities and the government On the other hand, they highlighted that the payment of the scholarships was made by the Ministry of Education, a claim supported by the Argentine University Federation (FUA) “that it be accompanied by this Council due to the relevance that these programs have in guaranteeing “Thousands of students continue in their careers in the face of the economic context that the country is going through.”
In turn, they indicated that “the efforts for the assignment of 2025 programs began, by virtue of which the CIN has already sent the distribution recommendation for the programs to strengthen science and technology, extension, doctorates, and the Virtualization Plan of Higher Education (VES Plan) and the Support Program for New Universities (PROUN), among others; and the academic reform policies framed in the 7 points that the CIN supported in the Council of Universities last year began to be discussed with the Undersecretary of University Policies.”
Finally, they stated that they hope to know “the new authorities and the consequent organizational chart of the Secretariat of Science and Technology to be able to initiate urgent procedures that provide predictability and responses to the needs of the national scientific and technological system of which the universities are part, in matters of science, technology, innovation and development, the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and other organizations of the scientific and technological system of our country.”
