The Buenos Aires province government has scheduled an emergency meeting today with the province’s teachers unions to discuss the ongoing campaign for higher wages.

The meeting comes after the teachers unions marched towards the House of the Province of Buenos Aires yesterday to demand that the government re-open negotiations for salary increases.

Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli will hold the meeting at 3pm today at the provincial Education and Culture offices in La Plata, with the hope of negotiating peace talks.

The provincial education minister Nora de Lucía will meet with the five education unions, the Unified Union of Educational Workers in Buenos Aires (SUTEBA), the Buenos Aires Educators’ Federation (FEB), the Teachers’ Union (UDA), the Technical Teachers Association (AMET) and the Private Teachers’ Union (SADOP).

The secretary general of SUTEBA, Roberto Baradel has said that the unions will be attending today’s meeting with the sole purpose of discussing salary conditions. He told local reporters that if this issue is not raised then the “conflict remains unsolved”. “There is no way we can accept a mere $300 raise for six months,” he stated.

Additionally, Baradel told the local media that the unions could halt the 72-hour strike planned for 8th April if salary negotiations were discussed and acted on in today’s meeting.

However, Scioli has said that there will be no salary talks during this particular meeting and that negotiation lines are closed after the unions rejected the governments offer of a 22% salary increase at the beginning of March; the unions have demanded a wage increase of up to 30%.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri with Deputy Mayor María Eugenia Vidal and Education Minister Esteban Bullrich (photo by Sandra Hernández-gv/GCBA)

Schools in the city and province of Buenos Aires, as well as most other provinces, opened today as per the school calendar. However, the conflict over this year’s salary increases continues in many parts of the country.

“Every year, it is a very happy moment when the school year starts. It was achieved thanks to a good dialogue with the teachers” said Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri as he inaugurated the start of the 2013 school term.

The city’s teachers’ unions decided yesterday, in assemblies, to initiate the school year this morning after accepting Macri’s proposal to increase salaries between 26 and 29%. A teacher’s basic wage is set to increase from $3,550 in March to $4,200 in July.

Only one union out of 17 rejected the official proposal. The Association of Middle and High Education (Ademys), rejected the offer considering that “it is very far from the percentage of inflation recognised by Macri”.

For Eduardo López, General secretary of Education workers (UTE), the increase in porteño teachers’ wages “is the minimum to start classes, but is nowhere near enough”. Moreover, UTE announced a mobilisation on 12th march to demand better financing for education.

In the province of Buenos Aires, after 48 hours of strikes due to continued disagreement over teachers’ wages, classes eventually started too. However the conflict is not over, as no agreement has been reached. Daniel Scioli, governor of Buenos Aires Province, called for a meeting with the teachers’ unions this afternoon – although expectations remain low.

“We will attend the meeting because we are responsible. We want a substantial offer, that comes close to our demands. If not, we will take forceful measures next week” warned Roberto Baradel, general secretary of the United Union of Education Workers of Buenos Aires (SUTEBA). Teachers and other state workers have called for a protest tomorrow at the house of the province of Buenos Aires in the city of buenos Aires.

Teachers’ strikes continue in the province of Entre Ríos. In Santa Fe, classes began today but teachers announced a two-day strike for next week.

The Argentine national government confirmed this morning that it will not reopen wage negotiations over teacher salaries despite today’s strike.

Alberto Sileoni, the federal minister of education explained, “We cannot reopen the national wage negotiations. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but we had one month to debate the issue.”

Education Minister taking questions (Photo: Courtesy Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social)

Due to continued disagreement over teachers’ wages, many schools have not reopened as scheduled today, barring about seven million students from restarting class. In fact, schools are only open across seven out of Argentina’s 24 provinces. The teachers from the unopened schools are currently striking in hopes that the national wage benchmark will be lifted from the decided increase of 22%.

In Argentina, teachers’ wage standards are based on a non-binding national benchmark and are implemented on a provincial level.

The main teachers’ union, the Confederation of Education Workers of Argentina (CTERA) has been vocal throughout the labour dispute. The group’s leader, Stella Maldonado, commented that today’s strike is a “political strike,” because, “what we are discussing is a very political question, as it has to do with the state collecting funds and how it distributes its resources.” She asserted that that the wage discussions in fact, “are not discussions at all.”

Maldonado further stated that Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli “has made the education crisis worse… with incorrect methods and weak, defective management.”

The current teachers’ strike includes suspension of all duties and is anticipated to last from this morning until Wednesday. The strike has been endorsed by five national workers’ unions, CTERA, the Union of Argentine Teachers (UDA), the Association of Technical Teachers (AMET), the Confederation of Argentine Educators (CEA) and the Argentine Union of Private School Teachers (SADOP) in rejection of the newly established increment to increase wages of 22%. It is the second major teachers’ strike under current president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Today at 8:30am, six teachers were received for their return to school after being suspended and charged by the city government.

The educational professionals from Monte Castro school were suspended from work in response to a parody of the education system using Mayor Mauricio Macri and education minister, Esteban Bullrich, as characters in a video that they released last May. The parody was released as a response to the government’s decision to close schools and cut 221 degrees from the curriculum.

The video sparked controversy from the city and national government officials as they called it “demoralising”.

Government officials expressed the desire to press charges as the teachers had violated a code of conduct. After this decision was made, teachers city-wide went on a 24-hour strike.

The head of the UTE-Ctera teacher’s union, Eduardo López, said that the suspensions that were called on by the mayor were a form of persecution and punishment for “thinking differently”.

During today’s press conference that included the education professionals, the people were assured that the teachers will continue to teach with “plurality and diversity”.

“We teach to think and not to obey,” said López.

López also added that they will not let the city mayor use this form of stigmitisation and persecution, saying that public schools are to teach freedom, peace and democracy.

The principal of the Monte Castro school was grateful, saying that the decision to let the teachers return meant that justice was done.

The city’s teachers began their strike today as a group of them crossed Avenida de Mayo to protest outside government buildings.

The Union of Education Workers (UTE-CTERA) said that on average, between 85 and 90% of workers have stopped work today to support the dissent of the unfair removal of six education professionals.

According to Télam, school no. 1, Valentín Gomez in the San Telmo neighbourhood, said 100% of their staff stopped work today. Télam was informed by a representative that yesterday, the school notified the parents of the children and that no one had showed, “not even the secretary”.

Another school whose staff did not show was in the school Lenguas Vivas Mariano Acosta, situated in Bajo Flores.

Head of the teacher’s association, ADEMyS, called the movement “massive”.

The UTE is saying that the strike shows “the rejection from the teachers of persecution and separation of teachers who think differently as well as a rejection of the method of punishment used by Macri and Bullrich”.

The protest comes is response to the removal of six educational professionals from the Monte Castro school after they released a video parody of the city mayor and Education Minister last May. The video was a response to the government cutting 221 degrees and the closure of schools.

The government officials called the parody a “demoralisation” of Mayor Mauricio Macri and the minister of Education, Esteban Bullrich.

A 24-hour teachers’ strike has been called for Friday by the city’s Teacher’s Union (UTE-Ctera) in response to the sanctions put on six education professionals after they released a video parody of the mayor, Mauricio Macri, and education minister, Esteban Bullrich.

The teachers gathered together in the union to announce the strike in response to the removal of school no. 3 employees, in Montecastro, saying that the halt on work for the 31^st August is in defence of democracy, plurality, and to reject the stigmatisation of those who think differently.

“It’s not a strike for salaries. It’s for the right to dissent, to have distinct thoughts and for the freedom to teach,” said general secretary of the union, Eduardo López.

López continued to emphasise that the six education professionals (which includes teachers and administrative staff) were only recreating a dramatisation in response to the conflict of the 221 classes at the primary level that were closed in March of this year by the city government. He also labelled the removal of the professors as “persecution”.

The city government responded by saying that the parody created by the education professionals devalued Macri and Bullrich, calling the video a “theatrical work”.

Carlos Oroz of Ademys, a union of teachers within the city and province, stated  that “if the city mayor or minister of education did not like the dramatisation they have the right to have an opinion, but they cannot treat the skit under the same sanctions as those cases that damages an individual’s physical or psychological integrity”.

The scope of the parody was under the administrative investigation by the General Direction for Legal and Institutional Coordination. After the Attorney General of the Government of the city intervened, it was resolved that the six professionals from Montecastro, the principal, vice-principal, secretary, two teachers and 6 librarian, would be suspended for violating certain obligations of article 6 of the Teacher’s Statute.

Today, teachers and workers under the UPCN and Fregabba, the Buenos Aires province’s unions of teachers and workers, will strike for 48 hours causing disruptions to classes and other facilities in the province and capital.

The strike means a suspension of classes for the next two days and will also affect hospitals, the courts as well as other provincial procedures. The workers will be marching, which will limit access to parts of both the city and province of Buenos Aires.

The decision was reached after teachers of the Frente Gemial rejected the provincial government’s plan to pay the workers’ midyear bonus in instalments instead of in one payment, a measure proposed by Provincial Governor Danial Scioli last week. The strike also comes after a 48-hour halt to work that happened last week.

The provincial federation of workers (Fegeppba) has also decided to stop work and march for 48 hours starting tomorrow and ending on Saturday. Both movements have officials worried that Scioli will be forced to call an official economic emergency for the province and has them concerned that the conflict will escalate.

Leader of the Provincial ATE Oscar de Isasi believed that Scioli made the decision against judge Luis Arias, who felt the province should pay the bonus at one time.

“The governor is not responding to the reality that 70% of the workers want to receive the whole bonus all at once [as opposed to in instalments],” said Isasi. “Based on [Scioli's decision] we say he is guaranteeing the conflict.”

Petroccini also challenged criticisms about absenteeism rate among teachers, saying, “The main causes for absenteeism are related to post-traumatic stress, caused by the circumstances in which we have to carry out our jobs.”

Like other social services, the budget for education has one of the highest levels of under-execution. The money is assigned in the budget but it is not being spent. According to a report by the City Ombudsman in June 2011, the yearly budget execution for schools’ infrastructure has been consistently under 50% between 2007 and 2010

The main umbrella unions’ association, the CGT, headed by former leader of the camioneros, Hugo Moyano, backs Province of Buenos Aires teachers’ demands. A national teachers strike is scheduled for March 6.

It’s the fifth school day of the teachers strike and 350,000 students remain without classes. It has been decided by Esteban Bullrich, the minister of Education of Buenos Aires, that the school year will continue until the 23rd December, to make up for the lost classes.

In addition to classes ending a week later than planned, teachers that were on the protest will not be paid for the days they missed.

The protests are against new legislations that are being discussed currently by government. It is currently being decided whether a new teacher rating board should be put in place. The proposed rating system would be computerised, changing how teachers get employed and promoted.

Hundreds of teachers and students crowded in the centre of the capital and 17 individuals participated in the tearing down of security fences.

Last Friday many teachers stormed into the building in an attempt to join the debate. Seven were injured and one with a knife, which led to a suspension of the discussions.

Some teachers remain outside the building now and a 48-hour strike has been announced for later this month.