Hear
From 5 p.m., the Union Association of Subway and Premetro Workers (AGTSyP-Metrodelegates) began a staggered shutdown of service in rejection of the suspension of the union’s executive secretary, Claudio Dellecarbonara, for releasing turnstiles and allowing passengers to travel for free during a protest during 2021.
The measure affects 17 to 21 to lines B, E and the Premetro. Meanwhile, of 19 to 21, will harm users of D and H; and of 21 until closing from the subway, to A and C.
According to estimates by the concessionaire Emova Movilidad SA, around 200,000 passengers will be affected by the phased interruption. The union, for its part, stated that it did not handle any estimates of affected users.
“I didn’t know anything about this,” said Gonzalo, who was at the Carlos Pellegrini station on line B. He was heading to his home in Once. “Otherwise I’m going to have to take a bus that takes an hour longer.”
At 4:58 p.m. the last service coming from the Alem terminal passed through the station. After that, there was no one left on the platform. “There is no service until 7 p.m.,” said an Emova employee, who supported the forceful measure. “They are going to have to leave because no one can stay on the platforms,” he said.
On the upper floor of the station, in the hall where the lines connect, users who had previously taken other services found a fence that prevented them from going down the stairs to reach the platforms. A man asked what the measure was for. A metrodelegate who was at the scene explained that as a union “they had no other alternative” to the suspension of a colleague. “Don’t tell me there is no other alternative. We don’t have to pay this. It is easy to cut. And the people, what do they do?” the passenger replied angrily.
“We always try to minimize the impact of our measures on users. Unfortunately, they sanction us for opening turnstiles, a measure that we use to make complaints visible and that have a positive impact on users,” said Andrea Salmini, press secretary of the AGTSyP-Metrodelegates.
The concessionaire company, Emovaspoke out against the measure of force and described it as “completely unjustified”. “A ruling by the Labor Court gave rise to a request from the company to apply a sanction to the AGTSyP director Claudio Dellecarbonara, for carrying out improper actions within the framework of their work performance”, the company indicated. And he added: “The National Court of First Instance of Labor No. 73 determined that Emova is in a position to suspend it for 15 days for preventing the normal development of activity in different work sectors. The breaches occurred at the Congreso de Tucumán (D) and Alem (B) stations in December 2021, occasions in which the emergency door was kept open, encouraging hundreds of users to enter without paying a ticket, causing damage to the company. Likewise, he repeatedly disobeyed the requirements of the hierarchical personnel to cease the action, which led to the sanction applied. In this case, a court ruling is required due to the union protection that the manager has.”
And he closed: “We also remember that emergency doors are of vital importance in emergency cases and therefore their misuse represents a potential risk for all users. Likewise, repeated disobedience to hierarchical personnel implies a violation of their obligations as an employee of the company, which entitles them to apply disciplinary sanctions (LCT, art. 67). “We regret that this measure of unjustified force harms people who use the subway and the Premetro.”
This morning, in radio statements, Dellecarbonara said that the company filed a case against him “in bad faith” and considered that the decision is “unfair, void and persecutory.” And he added: “We are not going to allow you to try to intimidate the workers so that we do not report,” he said.
Although Dellecarbonara He indicated that he has already appeared in court and at the Undersecretary of Labor to resolve the personal suspension that Emova applied to him.he explained to radio Miter that this Wednesday’s strike is due to “a constant policy of aggression by the company.” “People will be able to travel because we do not stop all the lines together. They will have other alternatives. We look at those details”he pointed.
