Workers’ Struggles: Americas – World Socialist Website

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Latin America

National teachers’ strike in Argentina

On Thursday, May 23, Argentine public school teachers, state university professors, and administrative workers began a nationwide strike to protest wages and working conditions. Retirees, health care workers and government educators will suffer the most from the inflation resulting from the Milei administration’s economic shock policies.

In Misiones province, where some of the most militant protests took place last week, striking teachers were attacked by government gendarmes in the town of Posadas.

Educators compare Milei’s austerity policies with those of President Carlos Menem in the 1990s, a free-market Peronist whom Milei greatly admired.

In addition to pay raises, the strikers are demanding the restoration of the National Incentive Fund for Teachers, recently liquidated by Milei.

“We demand financing of education for universities and other institutions in a compulsory system. We demand the reinstatement of FONID and an increase in compensation for inequalities,” said Angelica Graciano, leader of the CTERA trade union.

Massive protests against Argentine President Milea are ongoing

Workers in Santa Fe, Argentina, march against Milea’s threats against public education (Photo: TitiNicola / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Protests by teachers, health care workers and police continued this week in Misiones province. Last Wednesday, health workers gathered in the city of Posadas, joined by energy workers who gathered across from the electricity offices in Posadas.

Manuel Adorni, a senior official in Milea’s administration, stated that despite the protests and strikes, the government’s policies would continue.

Meanwhile, on May 25 (Argentine Declaration of Independence Day), as part of the celebrations, President Milei went to the industrial city of Cordoba. Hundreds of public sector workers, members of the Association of Government Employees (ATE), blocked his entry into the city.

Government gendarmes sent to quell the demonstrators managed to open Milei’s exit route from the airport after initially being overwhelmed by their own tear gas due to sudden changes in wind intensity and direction. The president spoke from the steps of the Provincial Office, behind police barricades, to a limited audience surrounded by protesting public sector workers.

Teachers’ strike in Peru

On Thursday, May 23, teachers who were members of the Unified Union of Peruvian Education Workers (SUTEP) conducted a nationwide one-day strike. The teachers’ main demand was to increase the public education budget to 6%. GDP. The SUTEP statement listed the main issues facing teachers and students, including social inequalities in education, inadequate education policies and poor teacher training.

According to the strikers, more than half of the school buildings should be demolished and rebuilt, 60 percent students suffer from malnutrition, and 79 percent There is no access to the internet. Many schools lack electricity, water and sewage.

March of Silence in Uruguay demands explanation for ‘disappearance’

On May 20, the Mothers and Family Members of the Disappeared collective and other human rights groups led a massive March of Silence in Montevideo and other cities in Uruguay. The march participants demand that the government authorities disclose all available information and data on those who went missing during the military dictatorship (1972-1985). It is a cyclical event, organized since 1996.

In Montevideo it begins at a monument dedicated to the memory of those “disappeared” by the military during the years of dictatorship; ends with a rally at Liberty Plaza two kilometers away. The chosen date – May 20 – commemorates the murders of four opponents of the regime in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1976.

After the fall of the dictatorship, successive “democratic” governments refused to make public any information about the fate of over 5,000 people “disappeared” by the dictatorship.

United States

Garbage haulers from St. Louis announce sick leave due to pay and working conditions

On May 13 and 14, garbage carriers from the city of St. Louis, Missouri, organized sick leave to protest low wages, heavy workloads, and mistreatment from management. The city’s garbage department accused the sick leave of absence of an “unauthorized work stoppage” resulting from the workers’ failure to conduct action through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union.

City Mayor Rasheen Aldridge admitted that the employees’ complaints were justified Postal delivery from St. Louis“They don’t earn enough anyway. The feeling of disrespect at the same time is unfortunate.” Management said it was unaware of any specific demands but would consult with AFSCME union officials.

According to the city, 18 of 50 drivers took sick leave on Monday, and 16 the next day, resulting in the need for garbage collection. Drivers were working seven days a week trying to keep up with harvests that are at an all-time low.

In the past, an aging truck fleet caused problems when as much as half of the fleet was under repair. When the pandemic hit, the city imposed a hiring freeze and began redirecting recycling items to collection drivers and combining them with trash.

New York State Health Care Workers Agree to Strike at Nursing Home

Workers at the Absolut Care nursing home in Westfield, New York, voted by a 97% margin on May 16 to authorize a strike after nearly four months of negotiations failed to resolve workers’ demands. However, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) did not provide the required 10-day notice to begin the strike, and new negotiations resumed the day after the strike vote.

Since April, Absolut Care workers in Aurora Park, Orchard Brooke and Allegany have also been negotiating a new contract. More than 300 licensed nurses, certified nursing assistants, home health aides, patient care assistants, medical technicians, housekeepers, chefs and dietary workers are participating in the negotiations.

Karly Beaujean, a licensed practical nurse at the Westfield facility, said: “We are still burnt out. When new employees come in, they eventually leave. If we were able to offer the same or higher wages as other nursing homes in our area, hopefully the new employees would stay and help us provide residents with the care they deserve.”

In addition to human resources and economic issues, the SEIU website indicates that Absolut Care wants to include language in the contract that limits employees’ rights regarding work-related activities.

Canada

City workers in London and Ontario reject tentative agreement

Road maintenance and parks workers rejected a four-year tentative agreement presented to them last week by Local 107 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The agreement was to cover 770 external municipal workers employed by the City of London.

The rejection of the union’s recommendation came as a surprise to union officials, despite the poor terms of the proposed contract. CUPE spokesman Eric Bell said London Free Press that “conversations with the local community and the city were very friendly – they came up with an agreement that they thought they could present to the members, but the members sent a message that they wanted to continue to improve the collective agreement.”

Although the union declined to publicly provide detailed terms of the rejected contract, city authorities used an agreement with 800 indoor workers organized by CUPE last fall as a basis for negotiations. The new 3-year contract provided for salary increases of 3.2%. in the first year and 3 percent after in each subsequent year. The agreement was effective retroactively from January 1, 2023.

Any agreement based on this offer would mean a real reduction in the wages of external workers, whose wages dropped significantly during the period of the last agreement. That agreement included a paltry wage increase of almost 8 per cent spread over a four-year term (or less than 2 per cent per year) in circumstances where skyrocketing provincial inflation had steadily risen to almost 10 per cent in 2022-23.

Although no date has been set for future negotiations, CUPE officials have not taken any initiative regarding a strike.