In the radio program, the Matanzas teacher and leader of Política Obrera, Mariano Hermida, was spoken about the problems of schools and the Government.
By Nicolás Torrez
Nicolastorrez2022@gmail.com
At the beginning of the note in “No Te Duermas”, the teacher and leader of Política Obrera, Mariano Hermida, revealed that a “national day of struggle is planned on Wednesday the 14th at 11:00 a.m. at the doors of Congress”.
“Here Milei, and those who collaborate with Milei in Congress because we remember that Milei does not have a majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, are determined to destroy public education in principle to advance privatization and then to destroy the working conditions of teachers,” he said.
In line with the above, the political leader added: “I want to remind the audience that the modification of our retirement system is also on the agenda, which is a request that the IMF has been making for a while and, therefore, it is not by chance that they want to take away our right to strike. That is, I first take away your right to protest and then I have the free field to advance in another type of reform.”
Hermida explained that teachers “have a system that is sometimes called special because they contribute double or triple what other workers do to their retirement home” and added that “they have achieved early retirement compared to other workers due to the nature of the work.”
“There was a reduction in the allocations destined for education, for the connectivity plans that existed, for the canteens. The FONID has been removed from the teachers’ own salary, the national collective bargaining agreement has been eliminated.
Therefore, a Government that presents itself as concerned about education, in no way can have the argument that it is now concerned about education as long as the teacher goes on strike,” he said.
Educational crisis
During the interview, Hermida said: “If we make a statistic, look at the number of classes that have been missed on average in La Matanza, but in general, in the province, in the whole country, it has not been because this year there have been crazy strikes by teachers but because the working conditions themselves do not allow it.”
“When it is cold, classes have to be suspended because there are schools where there are no heaters and the children literally come to get sick. So, here there is no interest of this nature, it is a Government that is destroying salaries, pensions, which were advancing in an absolute defunding,” he said.
Developing the subject further, Hermida added: “It is not by chance that this project is supported by the educational employers, that is, by the private schools where the right to strike is practically prohibited today, because any teacher who exercises that right is automatically fired and note that the Government is subsidizing that sector through vouchers and in exchange is defunding the public school.”
The interviewee was asked if there is any discussion about how society reacts to these teachers’ strikes, to which the interviewee stated: “It is a common topic and it is a topic that we also discuss with families, because due to the nature of our work we are in permanent contact with our students and families. Every time we take a measure like this, which may be a strike, a mobilization or something that implies that classes are not given that day or part of that day, what we make clear here is that those responsible are not those who take the measures, but those who force us to take these measures.”
“In the province of Córdoba, where Milei got, if I remember correctly, one of the highest numbers in electoral terms, two days ago, there was a teachers’ strike and a mobilization of 30 thousand teachers. I have no doubt that, among the teachers who mobilized, there are colleagues who decided to vote for Milei,” he assured.
Underfunding in schools
Hermida acknowledged: “Argentina is in a situation with 55 percent poverty and, as things go, that figure is going to increase. We had the bus ticket in this increase that, I tell you, for teachers is a mortal blow because there are teachers who have to, due to a problem of the distribution of salaries and others, take several buses to go to schools and this is a kind of hidden salary reduction.”
“In the province of Buenos Aires, the basic salary according to the last increase established for a teacher who works one day or a secondary school teacher who works ten modules, is around 250 thousand pesos. Everything else that is incorporated are figures in black that end up being around 600 and 700 thousand pesos, so that a teacher has to fill hours, work more hours and super exploit themselves,” he concluded.
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