Governor Alberto Weretilneck confirmed this Friday in Viedma that Dialogue with UNTER will not be resumed while the strike measures ordered by the teachers’ union continue. “Let’s hope that the recess progresses and we will see if there is no measure for the call to continue the dialogue.”
The president ratified “our government’s rule” of not maintaining dialogue in these circumstances “because otherwise force would be imposed”. He said this after participating in an event in tribute to former governor Edgardo Castello on the 69th anniversary of the capital of Río Negro.
In this sense, Weretilneck pointed out that “We talk to all the unions” and mentioned ATE, UPCN, Asspur, Sitsa, Viales, “not only with the union representatives but with all the representatives of the community.”
He insisted that “I don’t understand the measurement” because “teachers have the best salaries in the country” and he stressed that “we took charge of all the things that the national government took out, such as Fonid or the band workshops, to give two examples.”
In direct response to the union and some other opposition expressions he said that “We have not fired or stigmatized teachers,” “We do not reduce the public education budget” and “we recover the teacher salary.”
That’s why, “The strike is incomprehensible,” he emphasized. and explained that the “attendance button” guarantees that 7,500 teachers who used it “get paid for the day” of unemployment.
Regarding the latest salary offer, he said that “we have improved it,” he acknowledged that “We are concerned that a large part of our salary is non-bonifiable and non-remunerative” but he clarified that “we did it so that it is useful to the worker” and announced that “we are going to enter a stage, the next few months, to transfer all these figures to basic salaries.”
Weretilenck participated alongside Vice Governor Pedro Pesatti and other provincial authorities in an event held at the Viedma cemetery, where Castello’s remains rest, on the anniversary of the passing of the law that gave rise to the province.
On this topic, he indicated that Castello was not only “the first constitutional governor of Río Negro” but also “who gave us much of the identity and personality that the province has today” and “our independence from central power.”
The latter meant “the consolidation of federalism, autonomy and independence from central power, which is often trampled on” but “with the unity of the people of Río Negro we are moving forward.”
