February, an important month for teacher salary negotiations, is being discussed as a challenge for education. The adjustment in the financing of public education, at the national and provincial level, posed an uncertain scenario just one month before the start of classes. The Omnibus Law, which could eliminate crucial funds for education, worries teachers unions and governors, anticipating difficulties to guarantee the start of classes at the end. Given this panorama, the different unions declare “alert and mobilization” due to the lack of a call to discuss salaries.
Teacher unions with national representation expressed their alert regarding the treatment of the Omnibus Law, which threatens to eliminate funds allocated to education. This panorama shows that, Salary conflicts are beginning to emerge in different provinces, while governors warn about the scarcity of resources to restore teachers’ salaries. Concern is aggravated due to the possibility of cuts in historic contributions from the national government.
Sonia Alesso, head of Ctera, warned about the possible impacts of the Omnibus Law on the National Teacher Incentive Fund, funds for school cooperatives, Conectar Igualdad and funds for training. Alesso declares to Página/12: «The draft articles worsen the situation and practically annul the national teaching parity. “It is serious and it worries us a lot.”
The national parity, which determines the starting salary of teachers throughout the country, has not yet been convened. Despite the commitment in January to hold the first meeting in February, uncertainty persists, directly affecting the planning for the start of classes.
Roberto Baradel, from CTERA, stated that “the government ignores teacher parity as an area of negotiation” and highlighted Milei’s responsibility in guaranteeing the initial minimum salary, which serves as the national salary floor. Despite meetings at the beginning of the year, the lack of news about the call worries the unions.
Five cegetist education unions, including the Argentine Teachers’ Union (UDA), the Association of Technical Teaching Teachers (Amet), the Confederation of Argentine Educators (CEA), the Argentine Union of Private Teachers (Sadop) and the Federation of University teachers (Fedun) demand an urgent meeting with the Secretary of Education at the national level, Carlos Torrendell. In addition, they urged deputies to vote against Javier Milei’s megalaw, pointing out the threat of the destruction of the educational system.
On the other hand, the initiatives of the Milei government, such as the interruption of the Conectar Igualdad program, the intervention of educ.ar, the possible tariffing of universities and changes in the duration of technical careers, They are also found in the agenda of debates between teaching unions.
With information from Infobae and Página 12