The teaching unions with representation throughout the country called for this Thursday a national strike at all educational levels. It is the fourth measure of national teaching force since Milei took office (the previous ones had very uneven adhesion) and the first in which all the national teaching unions agree, which had also called for a stop on May 9, in the general strike of the CGT.
During the Fernández government, the same unions had not called for any national strike for salary reasons.
For compulsory education (from initial to secondary level), the measure was called by Ctera, which is aligned with the CTA, and by the four unions grouped in the CGT.
Meanwhile, for the university level, those who call are the unions of that educational level: Conadu and Conadu historic.
Yesterday the national government announced an agreement with all universities to increase in 270% operating costsbut there was still no agreement on salary level. Salaries take up more than 80% of the university budget.
This Monday there was a joint table with the university unions. The Government offered 9% increase, a percentage that accompanies monthly inflation. “But they did not talk about any recovery of the almost 40% lost in these months,” they told Clarín from the university level.
Claim
From Ctera they reported that the strike is in demand of “educational financingcall to national teaching paritypayment of Fonid (funds from the national government to the provinces to pay a part of salaries) and urgent salary increase for retired teachers”.
“Since December, Ctera has been demanding solutions from the National Government and the Ministry of Education. The lack of responses caused a loss of the purchasing power of our salaries – since December there are teachers with salaries of $250,000-, educational defunding, causing and deepening provincial conflicts, in the absence of the State as guarantor of the teacher salary floor and the resources necessary for the functioning of the system,” they wrote in a statement.
“Argentina today exposes teacher salaries that are far from the poverty line for a typical family, which today is $828,158. And in many cases below the poverty line, which today is $373,474. The minimum wage discussed in the national joint venture is $250,000, and it has been frozen since December 2023,” they wrote from UDA – one of the CGT unions – in a statement.
