Subte union workers are promising an “indefinite strike” if their wage-demands and service improvements are not met soon.
As passengers boarded the underground trains for free this morning between 9 and 11, news of further protests hit Argentine airwaves. In a press briefing, deputy secretary of the Association of Subte Workers and Premetro (AGTSyP) Néstor Segovia announced that turnstiles would be lifted again on Thursday from 11:00 to 16:00.
Segovia told reporters that union participation in negotiations “depends on the city government taking charge of the management underground.”
The workers are calling for a wage increase of 28 percent, and “investments in training, stations and tracks”.
He added that the national government provides $360 million per year on behalf of the government of Buenos Aires, but Macri has “turned a deaf ear” to managing the city.
“Customers and employees were held hostage by this situation,” Segovia said, as reported by Télam. “They robbed the users from better service, and now are robbing the workers.”
La Nacion reported that the deputy worried the Subte was heading for an eventual tragedy similar to that of Once, calling the state of service a “time bomb”.
“Right now, the Subte is not [in the hands of] the national government, or Macri’s, which has never happened in the history of service,” he said. “The workers are worried, because they want management.”
