Today marks the second week of protests by Bolivia’s Workers Centre (COB) as regards pension increases.

The strike continues despite the fact that the government decided, at the request of the COB, to release a group of miners who had been incarcerated.

The national workers union of bolivia (COB) confrontation with the police (Photo: QuilomboFotos flickr)

Luis Arce, minister for Economy and Finance, explained that, “with the release of those in custody, the government has given a signal that it would like to make amends, paving a way for the return to negotiations.” Arce added that: “we told them that we also expect them to provide us with a signal…or end their protest.”

The largest union in the country, the COB is demanding a pension equivalent to 100% of their salary – a demand considered excessive by the government. The government sustains that to fulfil that demand would be to jeopardise long-term the pension system for the rest of the country’s workers.

The protesters are demanding a salary of more than US$1,147 per month for miners, and US$715 for other sectors. The Minister for Economy had originally offered instead US$570 for miners, and US$457 for the rest.

President Evo Morales said: “no matter what they say or do, there is no more margin for negotiation on the subject.”

Luis Arce Catacora (Photo: Casa de América flickr)

Earlier today Arce publicly denounced the “intransigence” of COB for not respecting their agreements with the government. The COB had agreed to halt the protest and roadblocks in order to enter into dialogue with the government as regards the pension increases.

He affirmed that: “on Sunday we had arrived at an agreement with the COB. They agreed to halt the roadblocks, which would be replaced with a vigil…we were advancing. Until the COB removes the roadblocks, we will not re-enter into a dialogue with them.”

As the uncertainty continues, so do the profit losses engendered by the strike. The Mario Virreira mine for example is thought to have lost around half a million dollars.

In addition, more than 30 people have been injured, around 370 people remanded in custody, whilst three policeman have been kidnapped by a group of miners, and hundreds of sticks of dynamite and other explosives have been seized.

The Camioneros at a CGT protest (Photo: Patricio Murphy)

The protest caused major transport delays this morning in the Congreso neighbourhood, especially during the peak hour. Another 15 to 20 trucks are expected to arrive later today to reinforce the protest and cause even more inconvenience.

“They should feed the fired workers who cannot send their children to school,” stressed the deputy secretary of Sichoca Pablo Moyano, referring to the main points of their claims. For Moyano, a three-month conflict around industrial laundries is the “fault” of Labour Minister Carlos Tomada.

However, on Thursday the Labour Ministry demanded the laundry companies “pay immediately” the wages owed. The national deputy at Labour Ministry, Adrian Caneto urged both sides to maintain “the best predisposition and openness to discuss topics that divide them and at the same time contribute in a way that would bring social peace and improve labour relations.”

Meanwhile the Urban Transport Workers Union (UTA) is carrying on with its own nationwide strike, paralysing long-distance bus travel around the country. The union’s general secretary, Roberto Fernández, said that they are not planning to end the strike until the government and the business chamber provide some solutions to the problems raised. Fernández added: “We asked for a wage increase and then we have found out that they want to fire people and change our working hours.”

The strike could disrupt this weekend’s matches in the Argentine football league. While some clubs in the top league could seek alternative ways to travel, other rely on the buses for longer journeys. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) already postponed all the games of Youth First Division scheduled for this weekend.

Buses waiting at the Retiro terminal (photo: Beatrice Murch)

The Urban Transport Workers Union (UTA) stopped all long-distance bus routes on Thursday as part of a strike. The union is demanding a 23% wage increase. Representatives said that the strike will last “until there are solutions”.

More specifically, the group is protesting against “threats of layoffs, job insecurity and the absence of wage agreement”.

The businesses are looking to eliminate secondary drivers for each unit and install 8-hour driving shifts.

“The stoppage is national, but only for the long-distance busses. There is no agreement in the joint (negotiations) that have taken place since 1st January. We are going to end the strike when the problems are solved,” union spokesman Mario Caligari said on Thursday morning.

In Buenos Aires, the Retiro station is largely affected by the strike. Some 22,000 long-distance bus drivers are believed to be participating in the stoppage.

Furthermore, in the province of Córdoba, there has been no urban transit for six days due to strikes. The Coniferal, City of Córdoba, and Tamse bus companies, all members of the UTA, have stopped services for the strike. Thousands of Córdoba residents have been affected.

Meanwhile, Córdoba city government is asking for reparations following a violent strike by drivers last Tuesday that caused damage to the Palacio 6 de Julio.

Continuing to push the government to renegotiate salary terms, the Teacher’s Union Front (FGD) announced in a press release this afternoon that teachers in the province of Buenos Aires will hold two separate 48-hour strikes in the coming weeks to demand higher wages.

96 Horas de Paro (Photo source: www.suteba.org.ar)

The first strike will take place on 24-25th April and the second will be on the 7-8th May. Teacher’s unions Suteba, FEB, UDA, Sadop, and AME will all participate, affecting an estimated 4.5 million students across the province.

“We resorted to this because there was no call to continue negotiating wages,” said Suteba leader Roberto Baradel. “We say this conflict is not resolved. We want to continue to discuss the salary issue.”

The union had originally demanded a 30% increase in salary, and said they are rejecting the government’s offer of 22.6% because they “have not sorted out issues such as transportation, dining, and infrastructure.”

Baradel said that Governor Daniel Scioli had announced there was to be “another meeting” with the authorities on “irregularities” in the deal. At that time, he expressed the need to reconvene, but union leaders say he has not followed through with that promise.

“We continue to stand by a raise of 30%, but it is a negotiation,” said Baradel, adding that the strike will be lifted “if they reopen negotiations, because we want to amend the proposal.”

Scioli insists he does not have enough funds to raise the teachers’ salaries by more than 22.6%.

Palacio de Tribunales (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Judicial employees today began a 72-hour strike, protesting in front of the Palacio de Tribunales, in rejection of proposed judicial reforms. As a result, the courts will not operate normally for the next three days.

“This reform affects the legal rights of workers, retirees, and it also affects the Constitution, which means it threatens the independence of judges. The wise thing to do would be for the government to remove these projects,” stated Julio Piumato, leader of the national union of judicial workers.

Even more critical was Hugo Moyano, leader of the General Labour Confederation (CGT): “They want to manage the Justice, like they are already doing with the Congress and with some other areas.

“They do not follow the principles of democracy and that means that they have something to hide,” he continued.

Additionally, after an almost four-hour long meeting yesterday, CELS (Centre for Legal and Social Studies), ACIJ (Civil Asociation for Equality and Justice), ADC (Association for Civil Rights) and the Association of Labour Lawyers pointed out their own objections on the Judicial Reform. The organisations are concerned that the wording is too “narrow” when it comes to exceptions which could harm vulnerable sectors and affect the judicial protection of their rights. After hearing some of the critics the Secretary of Justice proposed some changes, broadening the scope of certain sectors.

The proposed reforms, which are currently being debated in Congress, have drawn criticism from the political opposition and some NGOs.

A 24-hour strike has begun today amongst employees of Chile’s state-owned copper mining company Codelco, along with private mining corporation employees. Union organisers have gathered with 26,000 miners to participate in the countrywide strike.

The strike was called on Monday by the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC) and the Mining Federation of Chile (FMCJ), as part of their campaign for an improvement in pensions and the re-nationalisation of the copper and lithium industry, amongst other reforms. Chile is the world’s leading producer of copper, and it is estimated that its production represents one-third of the world’s copper supply. Chile produces an average of 5.4 million tonnes of the metal a year, with Codelco alone producing 10% of the world’s supply of copper.

A spokesperson for the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC), Jorge Varas said that, “all of Codelco is paralysed, and private mining companies have also been stalled”. Chairman of the FTC, Raimundo Espinoza continued by stating that “at this time we have paralysed the North in both the private and the state sector,” in an interview with Radio Cooperativa at 11:30am.

Employees of foreign private mining companies, such as Minera Escondida, operated by Anglo-Australian petroleum group BHP Billiton, are considered to be the largest private operation of miners in Chile. Miners from Minera Escondida will however only participate in the strike for a few hours, in support of the strike led by Codelco employees.

Codelco’s workers are demanding improvements in their pensions, the health system in the state sector maintained, greater job security, and fairer pay for contracted workers, who receive on average 70% lower wages than permanent employees.

Codelco said that the 24-hour strike being carried out by its employees is the equivalent of a loss of around US$35m in revenues from operations.

Salt mine in Colombia (Photo: phyxiusone on Flickr)

Colombian miners have agreed to end their 32-day strike on the premise of increased pay and better health insurance.

The union parties of the BHP Billiton coal company have signed a three year deal agreeing to a 5.1% salary rise in the first year and increases of inflation plus 1.5% and 1.7% respectively over the next two years, according to Marlon Gomez, a negotiator for the Sintracarbon union.The deal also includes a C$3.4m bonus, a C$9.6m advance on productivity bonuses over the next three years, better health insurance terms. and housing bonuses.

“It was a successful strike with no legal reprisals,” Gomez told Bloomberg earlier today. “We’re satisfied, though there’s a bitter taste from having extended the accord for three years when traditionally they last for two.”

The miners, who have been on strike since 7th February, stopped work to demand increased compensation, better health cover, and improved work conditions. According to media sources, the strike has reportedly lost BHP C$96m in productivity loss.

“We all lost out with the strike,” Cerrejon president Roberto Junguito. “Now the priority is to focus on safely re-establishing the operation, regaining our clients’ trust and focusing on expansion projects.”

The Cerrejon mine is located in the northern Colombian area of Guajira, and is the largest open-pit coal mine in the world, responsible for approximately 5% of global coal sales.

Daniel Scioli habla con la prensa by Tecnópolis Argentina, on Flickr

Earlier today, teachers in the province of Buenos Aires marched towards the Ministry for Education to reject the governments’ offer of a 22% increase in salary. The unions are demanding a wage hike of up to 30%.

The governor of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli, announced over the radio that he wanted to calm the people down and assure them that they are “doing everything possible to bring the two sides closer”. He insisted however that, “I can’t offer more than that offer the national [budget]”. He did go on to note however that ministers will continue to review the matter.

Earlier, the provincial government had offered a raise of 17.8%, which was rejected by the teachers’ unions. Today marks the third day of strikes, and tomorrow unions will decide whether or not to strike again. Roberto Baradel, president of the Unified Union of Educational Workers in Buenos Aires (SUTEBA), issued a statement at midday that read, “we, the teachers, would like to say to Daniel Scioli that he ought to make a better effort to resolve the conflict.”

In February the national government set the benchmark for teachers’ pay rises at 22%, though each province is in charge of settling salary negotiations. The start of the school year has been disrupted in several provinces due to an ongoing conflict over wages.

The Teachers’ Union Front (FGD) rejected the wage increase proposed by Daniel Scioli, governor of Buenos Aires province, and began a two-day strike on Monday. The proposal was an increase of 17.8% and the union was looking for an increase of 30%.

Roberto Baradel, president of the Unified Union of Educational Workers in Buenos Aires (SUTEBA) holds a press conference to declare a 48 hour strike. (Photo courtesy of PRENSA SUTEBA)

Roberto Baradel, president of the Unified Union of Educational Workers in Buenos Aires (SUTEBA), said the teachers are willing to resolve the conflict quickly but that it will require cooperation from the provincial authorities.

“It is a measure of force and I have to say that we are sorry to see it come to this situation, because this is not what we were looking for, and we tried to do everything necessary to avoid it,” he said.

“The previous semester was very bad for the province of Buenos Aires,” he added. “There were cuts in busing and school lunches.”

The proposed 17.8% increase would have come in three stages. The initial increase of 12% would have taken place in March, a 2.9% increase would come in September and another 2.9% would take place in December.

It was deemed by Scioli’s government to be “the best proposal we can afford.”

“I believe that these negotiations will be much more difficult than last year because the political context has changed,” secretary general of the Buenos Aires Federation of Educators (FEB) Mirta Petrocini said.

Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino and President Cristina Fernández (photo courtesy of Casa Rosada)

Buenos Aires’ Economy Minister, Silvina Batakis asked teachers to grant the government “a truce” until 15th March to resolve the pending wage increases. With four days before the beginning of classes, and whilst the provincial government is immersed in a heated debate over financing with the national government, the minister’s request aims at avoiding a teachers’ strike.

Wage negotiations for 2013 are underway between the teachers’ unions and the provincial government, however they have so far failed to reach an agreement. “Wage payments are going to be carried out on 15th [March]. We ask you grant us a little bit of a truce so we can see how much we’ve got,” said the minister.

The provincial government’s difficulty to meet salary payments has sparked a controversy between Batakis and national Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino. After some newspapers informed yesterday that the national government was blocking attempts by Daniel Scioli’s government to issue debt in order to finance wage rises, Lorenzino said on Twitter that “Governing is not borrowing money from the banks every 60 days to pay wages.”

Lorenzino also denied that his government is blocking aid to Buenos Aires. “The national government, throughout this process, never stopped helping the province of Buenos Aires, nor did it deny any requests to take debt. The total transfers made by the national government to the province increased by 168% between 2007 and 2012,” said the minister.

Batakis, in turn, replied to the national government in a radio interview and said that “the province always needs financing” and that “it’s not a bad thing to get into debt in order to provide essential services.” She also requested “definitions” from the national government “in order to see how we’re going to coordinate the financial assistance that we have received in previous years,” and stated that “that dialogue has to take take place between the governor [Daniel Scioli] and the president [Cristina Fernández de Kirchner].”