He Union of Private Oil Tankers of Río Negro, Neuquén and La Pampa He confirmed that he will go on strike for 48 hours and that production will be affected. The measure will begin next Tuesday and will paralyze activity in Vaca Muerta and the entire area.
In the union led by Marcelo Rucci, they indicated that, as there was no “concrete progress on the requested salary issue”, starting on Tuesday the 18th they will carry out “a direct action measure affecting production and for a period of 48 hours. with the entire jurisdictional scope of this union, without prejudice to its possible expansion.”
They added that it is found “the deadline for the conciliatory management has already expired” and that from the union they have opted “for good faith and dialogue”, but they did not achieve the parity they wanted.
Specifically, last week the oil tankers rejected the restitution of the fourth category of Income Tax, and they asked that the situation of industry workers with salaries below the basic basket be regularized.
Although the Base Law restored the fourth category of Income Tax, after the vote in the Senate with a majority against, the issue returns to the Chamber of Deputies for its new treatment. The minimum rate proposed was 5% of net profit and increased to 35% according to income level.
“Years ago we had the compensatory for colleagues who do not generate overtime, but never paid it. So we said ‘we are going to regulate this, we are going to make the writing clear, white on black’. The worker has to earn at least as much money to avoid falling below the poverty line,” said Rucci.
The union leader explained that the business chambers proposed that It would be the workers who earn the most who are in charge of that compensatory fund. “Do we have the face of an idiot?” Rucci stated during the assembly in the Neuquén town of Añelo.
In the union they warned that there are workers, such as those who work in the refinery, who are below the poverty line. They are the so-called “eight-hour workers,” who receive salaries below the basic basket line, between $600,000 and $800,000.
“An oil tanker is below the poverty line. By hook or by crook, we’re going to fix it. There will not be an oil tanker that has to go through that type of needs. They are responsible. They’re going to have to fix this mess. And I hope we fix it this week. Because if not, next week we will be on strike,” Rucci said.
The leader also compared the Argentine industry with what happens in the Permian Basin of the United States, the main shale region in the world. “Our workforce is first class, but the pay is second class. A worker in Permian initially earns 35,000 dollars a year, we do not reach 20. We pay their taxes, they do not dare to go to the government and say ‘don’t take 35% of my profits, leave me 25%, like they do in the United States,” said Rucci.
