The Trade Association of Subway and Premetro Workers (AGTSYP) announced a Subway strike for this Monday, April 3 on lines A and H. The measure will be extended between 5:30 and 7:30, and is part of the “fight plan” promoted by the union, which warned that they will continue “until a satisfactory response is obtained.”
As indicated by the AGTSYP through a statement, the “self-defense measure”, as the metro delegates named it, is given as part of the “fight plan” that seeks to achieve the reduction of the working day with two francs per week, the complete destruction of the network, the change of contaminated fleets and the replacement of missing personnel. In this framework, this would be the third stoppage that they would carry out in a week, since on Wednesday 29 and Friday 31 March they interrupted the service.
Subway strike: lines D, E and Premetro did not work this Friday for two hours
In the letter, they indicated that in recent months they held “successive hearings and private meetings” with the concessionaire Emova and the company Sbase. However, they failed to reach any agreement. “We have shown our willingness to reach an understanding, but unfortunately we have not received a positive response from the Emova concessionaire and only evasions from the Sbase company,” they detailed.
Added to this, they explained that the claims are in response to “the health crisis underground as a result of the presence of carcinogenic asbestos throughout the network that puts the lives of workers and users at risk”. In addition, they criticized the Metrovías-Emova company and the City Government for the “negligence” of operating “a service without adequate investment and maintenance”.
And they added: “We warn that We will continue with the measures of force until we obtain a satisfactory answer. to our claim and according to the seriousness of the situation suffered by the thousands of workers and the millions of users and residents of the subway”.
At the end of the statement, the union apologized to affected users by the measure of force. In this sense, they requested that travelers opt for alternative means of transportation during the day.
Emova’s response to the measure of force
From Emova, the concessionary company of the Buenos Aires subways, issued a statement through which They rejected the measure of force adopted by the metro delegates. In addition, they regretted “that users are directly harmed, especially in a time slot with high demand for the service, where passengers go to their jobs, universities, schools or even doctors and hospitals.”
Regarding the claim for the “sanitary crisis”, the company clarified that “There is no risk to the health of workers”. “Permanent measurements of air quality are carried out in all areas of the Subway whose records show results well below the levels admitted in the regulations and also equal to or lower than those detected on public roads,” they detailed. Along these lines, they added: “There is no declaration of unsanitary conditions in the subway, as determined by Chamber II of the Labor Appeals Chamber.”
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With regard to the request for deforestation of the network, they affirmed that they are working on a plan with this objective, in continuity with the process initiated by Metrovías four years ago. As they specified, they do it through an interdisciplinary table in which trade union entities also participate and which works in the Labor Protection Directorate of the City Government.
In addition, they indicated that they had hired “specialized and certified companies specifically for work with asbestos,” which allowed advance in deforestation of the formations both in the Rancagua Workshop (Line B) and in Lacarra (Line E). “These companies operate under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Agency of the CABA and the Undersecretary of Labor,” they specified.
Regarding the request to reduce working hours, Emova considered that “it is unfeasible” carry it out without affecting the operation and maintenance activities of the subway. “There is no precedent in metros in Latin America and the world of a weekly shift like the one the union is demanding,” they stressed.
MB / ED
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