Argentine Teachers Go on Strike in Buenos Aires

On Monday, Argentina's Union of Education Workers (UTE) announced a general strike in the Buenos Aires City's educational centers to reject the decrease in the educational budget and to demand the tenure of interim and contract teachers.

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“What happens in the Buenos Aires City Social Work (ObSBA) is serious and leaves all teachers without access to health. That is one of our complaints”, UTE Communication Secretary Paula Galigniana said, adding that authorities have not yet responded their demands.

Over the past week, teachers reacted to the lack of attention to their requests by generating some collective actions in several places in the capital city of Argentina.

“Given that the Buenos Aires mayor did not respond to any of the demands, we decided to defend the teaching workday and not work on Saturday. We also call for a 24-hour strike on Oct. 31 to demand an end to the harassment of teachers,” UTE said in a statement.

Galigniana also explained that teachers defend in-service training and demand respect for the working day from Monday to Friday.

“Horacio Rodriguez's administration does not stop harassing students, teachers and families. The only mechanism he finds is harassment and discipline to silence the voices and the claims”, she said.

The Union of Education Workers was created in 1957 and represents all public and private workers who are linked to the education sector in Buenos Aires City. Since 1973, it is part of the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA).