The Asociación Docentes de Santa Cruz (ADOSAC) announced a 72-hour strike for Monday July 6, Tuesday July 7, and Wednesday July 8, a measure that once again paralyzes public schools in the province. This is not an isolated event: the conflict has been ongoing for five months with strikes, mobilizations, camps, and plenary sessions, in a context where teachers denounce poverty wages, illegal deductions, elimination of union leave pay, and a crumbling school infrastructure.
The decision was made by the Provincial Congress of ADOSAC, in rejection of the latest offer from the Executive led by Claudio Vidal. The government proposed staggered increases: 3% in June, 10% in July, and 1% monthly from August to November, plus the return of lost days in two installments. For teachers, these figures do not cover inflation or recover lost purchasing power. «We need a proposal that lifts us out of poverty,» ADOSAC emphasizes, noting that the starting salary is $1,276,000, well below the regional basic basket, estimated at $1,900,000 by the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco.
In addition to demanding a real wage adjustment, the list of demands includes the full return of wages deducted for previous strikes, urgent repair of schools with structural problems, and consideration of the pedagogical proposal developed by the union. They also demand responses for teachers with health issues and condemn the policy of deductions and persecution as a mechanism of union discipline. Thousands of workers have suffered brutal cuts, even ending up with zero balances in their accounts.
The provincial government, far from offering solutions, insists on conditioning any salary improvement on the approval of a massive debt in the Legislature, a maneuver that the union calls blackmail. The first collective bargaining meeting of the year, they recall, was a delaying tactic: five months of waiting without a single concrete proposal. «We will not accept that the recovery of our salaries depends on negotiations behind the backs of those who sustain public education,» the teachers state.
The 72-hour strike was voted unanimously in assemblies and plenaries, with the support of broad sectors of the educational community and workers as a whole. This is not the first time Santa Cruz teachers have taken to the streets: the conflict is long-standing, with dozens of strikes, marches, and activities in defense of fair wages and working conditions. Nor is it the only union that rejected the government’s salary offer: ATE and Judiciales also considered it insufficient.
The infrastructure situation is another critical point. ADOSAC denounces an alarming deterioration of school buildings, while the Provincial Council of Education responds with promises of maintenance and works that do not cover the magnitude of the problem. Tired of delays and empty promises, teachers are betting on organization and grassroots struggle to achieve what they deserve.
On Thursday July 2, a mobilization of the Union Front took place, with the participation of ADOSAC, ATE, APEL, Judiciales, and self-convened public health workers. All denounced the poverty wages they receive, while Governor Claudio Vidal traveled to Buenos Aires to attend the inauguration of the new Chief of Cabinet, Diego Santilli, and then went to the U.S. Embassy to participate in the Independence Day celebration, in a display of submission that outrages workers.
The teachers’ strike is not just a wage demand: it is a cry of exhaustion against austerity, precariousness, and the government’s policy of discipline. The strike is a legitimate and necessary response to poverty wages and the Executive’s blackmail. The conflict remains open, and the 72-hour strike is just one more stage in a fight that, far from ending, remains latent in a province where the government is paying an increasing political cost. Santa Cruz teachers are leading the way: confronting austerity is non-negotiable, and collective organization is the only guarantee to achieve fair wages and a public education worthy of the needs of the working people.
para mi otra vez los zurdos de adosac choreando con paros salarios? si no laburan q no cobren las escuelas se caen? culpa de los gremios q se roban la plata vidal tiene q rajar a todos estos vagos de una vez afuera los planeros
Para mí esto es una joda. Vidal y su gobierno chorro nos tienen hasta las tetas con salarios de hambre y escuelas que se caen a pedazos. 72 horas es poco, yo creo que hay que ir hasta que caiga este modelo de mierda. Viva la lucha docente carajo.