Health on the Warpath – Strange News

On Wednesday, the corridors, waiting rooms and toilets were empty. In contrast to this image, the entrance to Combate de los Pozos was crowded. There was a sense of unity; we, the workers who manage the hospital every day, were there all day. We met nurses, stretcher-bearers, doctors, technicians, instrument technicians, nurses, administrators, maintenance staff; uniting to demand a salary increase, so that no worker is paid below the family basket, no to the payroll tax, to the unhealthy regime against brutal corrections and in defense of public, free and high-quality health care.

Voices of the strike

The strike was strongly felt, it was one of the most important in recent times, and the solidarity sectors were also present. Alejandrina Barry, Andrea D’Atri and Patricio del Corro of the PTS, Vanina Biasi and Gabriel Solano of the PO and Celeste Fierro of the MST participated from the benches of the Left Front. We had the solidarity presence of workers from the Teatro Colón, who added their art to the day, from the internal management of ATE Trabajo and from the Zanón factory, a ceramics factory without bosses in Neuquén.

There is a common denominator to this show of force and anger that runs through all sectors: the drastic austerity measures that the government is imposing on workers, refusing to increase the budget for the public health service, vetoing a pay rise for those who have worked all their life and repressing pensioners while cutting their medicines by 100%.

Alejandrina Barry Legislator porteña for PTS in FITU He noticed: “Something that characterizes this hospital is the fight and unity in defense of public health. For their own rights, but also for the public health of children who are so wronged at the moment, the main victims of the adjustment. Today I am really excited to see the unity that exists in this strike, which is really overwhelming, is really huge, and because they are an example for the rest of the country.”.

We also see the adjustment of families who come to the hospital, they are part of that percentage that has closed health programs, that do not have money to buy medicines. Many of these families are part of the 52% poverty that has increased in recent times. Where 1 million children go to bed without dinner, and among adults this number increases to 4.5 million who skip a meal. But all this does not make us sit quietly, on the contrary, surrender generates this hatred that unites us to fight. Something that pensioners continue to teach us is not to give up and to face this government.

That’s how he expressed it Raul Godoy in his speech at the strike: “I was secretary general for many years when I was in conflict in 2005 and having the opportunity to see again today all the unity that has been created between the different sectors of the hospital is really wonderful, colleagues. Long live the unity of workers for wages, for the defense of public health!”.

“This afternoon, the retirees will mobilize again. I think we all have to have empathy for these colleagues who put their faces and bodies at risk for all of us. We cannot allow such mistreatment of people who have dedicated their lives to working, who are paid 230 thousand pesos and bonuses, starvation bonuses. That is why the unity we are building is important.”.

Oil workers demonstrated this by striking for 7 days and winning a €1.5 million pay rise from their employers. Aviation workers went on strike and showed who the “forces of heaven” really are. Teachers in Neuquén, who have been striking for 8 weeks, are also defending their wages and the right to strike.

While the CGT continues to negotiate how to proceed on workers’ rights, in Garrahan the UPCN is threatening to destroy jobs and cut wages with a labor reform they helped approve. Together with their Peronist deputies and the unions they lead, they are collaborating on a general adjustment. This situation has increased anger in the days leading up to the strike and has strengthened the measure.

As he emphasized Leo Améndola, Delegate of the Internal Board of ATE Work: “The idea that they gave them was that nothing can be done. That this government was elected and that we have to endure it, who knows when. So yesterday we said with great pride that today we will be in this 24-hour strike that you are doing. Because it shows that something else can be done and that this situation where nothing can be opposed to the Milei government is not natural, that it was built, they built it and we have to show them a different perspective, that we can fight and win.”.

It is clear that the situation that Javier Milei’s government is leading to with its 0% deficit policy and adjustments for hundreds of thousands of workers is leading many sectors to organize themselves in the fight for decent wages, healthcare, free and quality education, as well as for retirees who have dedicated their entire lives to work, contributing to living their old age with dignity.

The CGT and CTA unions must organise a nationwide strike and develop a serious plan to combat the austerity policies that are destroying the lives of thousands of people.

The Marrón Clasista Group and the Posta de Salud y Cuidado call for the further strengthening of the means of struggle so that we do not allow ourselves to be defeated by the resignations, divisions and fear that employers and the UPCN union bureaucracy want to impose. Through the unity of the health team, strengthening the organization, and meetings like this one next Wednesday 11/09 at 13:30, we will continue to implement our action plan to achieve everything we set out to do.

If you are from Buenos Aires: Contact and organize cooperation with PTS at Left Front or Bread and Roses in your place of work, place of study or local area.