Javier Milei is determined to extend the greater burden of the adjustment on the political sectors that resist his measures and the central guidelines of his administration.
The governors already confirmed this last week when the national Executive cut discretionary transfers, transportation subsidies and funds for education after the fall of the Omnibus Law that Congress.
But are not the only ones.
Milei
will also apply the chainsaw to unionism
: he foresees a
sharp reduction in the resources destined to finance the
union social works administered by the main leaders of the CGT.
After the general strike that the labor union carried out on January 24, the fastest organized against a government since the return of democracy, the President accelerated his offensive against the union leg of what he groups under the category of the "caste "and, through informal messages from officials of his administration,
he anticipated to the unions the new cut that, in part, has already been implemented
: the Government did not transfer in January to union providers some
$5,000 million corresponding to the SUR program
that subsidizes highly complex treatments and high-cost medications.
But the adjustment is much broader and
threatens to affect the financing of services for the disabled and medical care for retirees and monotributistas
.
According to the Government's forecast, advanced to the union members, a reduction of around one third of the resources of the Solidarity Redistribution Fund (FSR) that is currently allocated to pay for
transportation and education services for the disabled
is projected, which would force social works to finance them with their own resources.
"If they move forward with the cut,
we are going to go to court to stop it
," they warn in response from the CGT leadership in line with the judicial counteroffensive that some governors have already launched after the elimination of transportation subsidies and the fund. teaching incentive.
In the labor union they remember that for years they have been pressing for the State to directly assume the cost of these services to avoid defunding the FSR, whose original purpose was to pay for the most expensive treatments.
For this, during the administration of Alberto Fernández and Sergio Massa they managed to include in the 2023 Budget a specific item of $132,000 million to pay for disability items outside the FSR, but until December only $70,000 million were transferred.
Milei's management
has already told them that it will not continue with these transfers
.
Now added to that decision is that their own providers must pay a portion of the services.
"They do not understand that they are not punishing the union members.
This is paid for by the workers, the people and public health,
which is already collapsed,"
José Luis Lingeri, head of the Sanitary Works union and the representative of the Cegetista leadership in charge, warned
Clarín
. of the problem of social works.
The leader stressed that
the situation of the FSR
, which is administered by the Superintendence of Health and is nourished by a percentage of the workers' contributions, is "critical", because the resources are not enough to finance the system that today provides medical services to more of 14 million people.
During the month of January, the Fund collected $55.2 billion while
disability expenses totaled $50.505 million
(after applying a 30% increase in these services), which
represents 90% of the resources
.
According to the CGT's calculations, if this situation continues, social works
would accumulate a net loss of $200,000 million by the end of the year
, impossible to finance with the unions' own funds.
And the scenario could be worse if medical benefits continue to be updated in line with inflation but the increases in salaries, whose contributions finance the system, do not accompany this evolution.
More cuts
To the complications due to the exponential increase in the costs of the disability category that the Government now intends for the unions to pay in part directly with their resources, another decision is added that the libertarian management projects:
canceling the automatic subsidies of SUMA, SUMA+ and SANO
, intended to compensate the contributions received by social works from
monotributists, retirees and low-wage workers
.
During January, the union providers received the resources from those transfers corresponding to December, but they did not receive official confirmation of what will happen with the January and February funds.
"
There is no dialogue
, we don't know what is going to happen," they complain in the Cegetista leadership, where they are waiting for a formal call from the
brand new head of the Super de Salud, Gabriel Oriolo,
who joined the organization after the CGT strike. and the displacement of Enrique Rodríguez Chiantore, Patricia Bullrich's representative who had been appointed at the beginning of the Milei administration with the approval of the union members.