After the first meeting that the Government held with the teaching unions, the Ministry of Education confirmed
the end of the National Teacher Incentive Fund (Fonid)
and called for an interim meeting until next Tuesday to continue negotiating the salary floor.
According to sources from the educational portfolio, Clarín will seek
to redirect Fonid funds to policies
linked to effective learning (such as the National Literacy Plan) and the school information system.
In this way,
the teacher salary will not be discussed until next week
, a negotiation that for CTERA was "intentionally delayed," according to what its general secretary, Sonia Alesso, had declared at the press conference last Thursday, when she announced the teacher strike.
The Secretary of Labor, Omar Yasin, was present at the meeting;
the Secretary of Education, Carlos Torrendell, and representatives of the five national teaching unions: the Confederation of Education Workers (Ctera), the Argentine Teachers' Union (UDA), the Association of Technical Teaching Teachers (AMET), the Argentine Union of Private Teachers (Sadop) and the Confederation of Argentine Educators (CEA).
Discontent of teaching unions with the Government
Last Thursday, when CTERA announced the strike,
it had flagged "several surprising legal issues
. "
"The first is the schedule: the signing time is until 5:30 p.m., the call is at 6:00 p.m. The second is the agenda: they call us to 'form the negotiating commission'. It is already formed. There is no more agenda put forward "said Alesso.
"We are going to ask that the State
comply legally and precisely with a formal call
that explains the schedule, agenda, subjects to be discussed and conformation," he added.
From the sector they had already trusted that Tuesday's meeting
was probably not going to set the teacher salary
, but rather that it would be a first approach in the negotiations.
Finally, this is what happened.
In fact, this same Tuesday CTERA criticized after meeting with left-wing deputies: "The non-call for the National Teacher Parity, the non-sending of funds for FONID, the Salary Inequalities Compensation Fund and for National Educational Programs, as well as the items for school cafeterias, among other aspects, represent
educational defunding and a brutal adjustment
for educators and our retirees."
What was the teaching strike like at the start of classes?
In the City of Buenos Aires, the impact was limited
because the Government of
Jorge Macri
already agreed with 15 of the 17 Buenos Aires unions to increase the initial salary to $871,332.
According to a survey carried out by the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education on a total of 492 schools,
93% of the City's teachers did not adhere to the strike
called by CTERA.
The union, meanwhile, did not report on the level of adhesion.
In the provinces, the teaching strike had uneven compliance.
In Mendoza, where the provincial unions decided to mobilize but not join the strike, classes began at all levels.
Santa Fe was the "hardest" province this Monday in the complaint
, with the majority of classrooms empty.
Among the Santa Fe teaching unions, Amsafe, Sadop and Adul called for a longer strike, lasting 48 hours, to demand compliance with the 2023 parity. In addition, a mobilization towards Plaza 25 de Mayo in the provincial capital.
In Córdoba, the Union of Educators of the Province of Córdoba Uepc joined the salary claim, while the Argentine Union of Private Teachers (Sadop) did not do so because it was affiliated with the CGT.
In parallel to the dispute with the Nation, Uepc has not yet agreed with the Province of Córdoba and is analyzing the last offer put on the table by the Government of Martín Llaryora.
Only on Wednesday, February 28, will they meet again to respond to the offer that contemplates a salary recomposition for the first quarter of 2024.
In Corrientes, where primary and secondary schools began their school cycles, adherence was more uneven in the provincial capital.