The Deputy Secretary of the Trade Union of Subte and Premetro Workers (AGTSyP) has confirmed today that all of its members will strike starting this week in the face of stalled salary negotiations.
Néstor Segovia tweeted that the Ministry of Labour was not listening to the Subte and Premetro worker’s demands, “so let’s stop working,” he wrote. He also tweeted, “[Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio] Macri is not responding to our requests, so let’s stop.”
In an interview with Infobae, Segovia confirmed that the workers would quit the lines and resume a strike that was suspended in May. He claims that more force is needed in order to implement salary increases.
Segovia said the strikes would start, “today, tomorrow, or Monday,” according to Infobae.
The Union is asking for a 28% increase in wages as well as safer working conditions. This Wednesday marks the deadline for the “truce” agreed upon in May, which put the trains back in motion after ending a strike over multiple days. At the time the union accepted a payment to workers of between $900 and $1,200 and agreed to return to negotiations over a permanent salary increase.
The agreement, however, had been made on a transitional basis since both the national government and the city of Buenos Aires refused to pay Metrovías’ higher subsidies to compensate for wage increases. Both administrations are still discussing who is responsible for the payment.
Caught between the negotiators, Segovia claims the workers have no other option but to use more force in the form of a strike.
Just minutes after Segovia’s announcement, the minister of labour, Carlos Tomada, said the national government would not interfere in what, “is the problem of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires.”
