The national leadership of the
Metallurgical Workers Union (UOM)
decided on forceful measures of force, after failing to reach an agreement in the joint negotiations called by the Ministry of Labor.
The union led by Abel Furlán will carry out
strikes of 24, 48 and 72 hours throughout March
in all steel plants.
The first strike will be tomorrow, Wednesday.
The union organization denounced "the failure of joint negotiation" and determined a plan of struggle that will begin on Wednesday and continue over the next two weeks with extended measures.
Next week, the strike will be for 48 hours and will affect activity on
Wednesday the 13th and Thursday the 14th
.
The following week, meanwhile, the strike will be for 72 hours: it will take place on
Tuesday the 19th, Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st.
The measures were taken after the mandatory conciliation period imposed by Labor had expired.
From the union they expressed their concern about the existence of salaries lower than the amount of the basic food basket and demand increases that are in line with inflation.
"In the hyperinflationary context that our country is going through, with a sharp rise in the price of the basic food basket, we ratify the fair demand for the preservation of purchasing power (...) through the corresponding monthly salary increases equivalent to the consumer price index" , they highlighted through a statement.
The businessmen of the Argentine Chamber of Steel made an offer of salary improvement for one quarter, but the union leaders rejected it and claimed that "it is not enough to match the loss of purchasing power of salaries due to the serious escalation of inflation."
Abel Furlan, general secretary of the UOM, announced three strikes for March.
Photo Fernando de la Orden
The forceful measures, according to union sources, will affect and completely paralyze the steel companies, especially the production schemes of
Ternium and Acindar,
which due to the collapse of its sales announced that it will close its industrial plants between March and April
.
From the union they reported that the Argentine Steel Chamber applies "dollarized, monthly, permanent and sustained increases" on what they produce.
And that said mechanism represented a
100% increase last December in the final price of said products.
"As a result of the combination of this skyrocketing increase in prices and the fall in the purchasing power of salaries, companies in the sector benefit from an abrupt drop in unit labor costs," they noted in the statement.
What is the union asking for and what was the response?
The strikes were decided by a plenary session of general secretaries from across the country after the failure of a new negotiation this Tuesday.
The UOM fight plan announced through a statement on the networks.
There, the UOM
demanded a 35% salary update for February
and the incorporation of a
trigger clause
to activate income monthly based on inflation data released by Indec.
In return, the business chambers offered the payment of an advance payment of 15% on account of future agreements from February 1, which was rejected.
The last salary agreement signed with the chambers for January was 25.5%.