The strike of the Association of Argentine Health Workers (ATSA), demanding a salary increase, will begin at zero hour this Thursday, as announced by the union on Tuesday.
"Faced with the intransigence of the business chambers, the ATSA Board of Directors decided to call a national strike of activities," confirmed Héctor Daer, who is also co-secretary of the CGT.
The union leader also warned that the union will carry out
"all the necessary union actions for salary recomposition,"
and warned
:
"This happens due to the lack of progress in salary negotiations with the business chambers.
What will the attention be like?
The measure of force will be felt in clinics, sanatoriums, private hospitals and diagnostic centers throughout the country.
In the City of Buenos Aires, in addition, definitions were still awaited on how it will impact public hospitals, since the Association of Municipal Doctors had not yet expressed themselves on the matter.
For their part, from the Province of Buenos Aires they told
Clarín
that
"the strike will only affect the private sector."
From ATSA they clarified that "the implementation of the strike will be carried out covering the minimum guards and exclusively addressing emergencies."
And they added: "During the strike we will go to the establishments, but
we will refrain from carrying out tasks and we will carry out visibility actions in the entrance hall or entrance doors
. We will also offer
minimum guard coverage, focusing on emergencies."
There is still no definition as to whether Buenos Aires public hospitals join the Health Union strike.
Photo: Federico López Claro
For their part, the workers of the Italian Hospital also joined the strike and announced the holding of
"general assemblies."
It is likely that on Thursday, those who had scheduled appointments in outpatient clinics or in diagnostic or analysis services will find their appointments cancelled, as is happening in some cases.
Also, from some private centers, they reported that care may depend on each service and the
adherence of professionals or administrative staff.
"The prepaid companies continue to increase their rates, but they freeze salaries,"
said, according to a cable from the Télam agency, the general delegate of Italiano, César Latorre, who confirmed the holding of
"general assemblies"
this Wednesday and the general strike of activities for 24 hours by Thursday.
In this framework, the union leader argued: "During the year 2023 our salary was 74% below inflation, the employers are gambling on lowering our salary in a context of unbearable inflation.
A salary recovery in accordance with the needs of health workers"
.
The decision of the health union was made almost at the same time that President Javier Milei's decree on the deregulation of social works was published in the Official Gazette.
The average allows workers under a dependency relationship to choose between the different prepaid and social works, with
"free competition" between them.
Likewise, the strike coincides with the forceful measures that different unions began to carry out, which demand salary increases in the face of the advance of inflation and the devaluation measures taken by the Government.
This Tuesday, La Fraternidad, the union that brings together train drivers, called for a general strike throughout the country that was felt, above all, in the Metropolitan Area, where the most important lines were paralyzed.
This afternoon, the general secretary of the union, Omar Maturano, did not rule out
a new general strike of the CGT and other unions for the coming weeks.
S.C.