The wage negotiation for oil workers is at a decisive hour. After several meetings between business chambers and union organizations, discontent is growing in the plants in the face of employer proposals. In the first three meetings, the Chamber of the Oil Industry of the Argentine Republic (CIARA) even offered a 0% increase, arguing that the raise granted in January had not yet been surpassed by inflation. SOEA and the Oil Federation denounce that with 0.1% of the companies’ turnover they would pay the increase they demand and warn they will go on strike indefinitely if no agreement is reached.
In the last hearing, held last Thursday within the framework of mandatory conciliation, the companies barely offered a sum of 15,000 pesos for May, claiming that would be the difference between the January increase and inflation measured by INDEC. Added to this was a barrage of social media posts and unsigned notes in major regional newspapers with lies about workers’ salaries and other attacks on unions aimed at muddying the waters. All this only fueled anger among thousands of workers who see how the cost of life continues to hit their pockets while large exporters keep accumulating profits.
The situation is even more scandalous considering that the national government has been granting benefits to the agro-export complex. Since last year, the oil employers have been demanding and obtaining tax benefits. In January 2025, the government temporarily reduced withholdings on soybeans and their derivatives, lowering them from 33% to 26% and from 31% to 24.5%, respectively. Then there were further reductions and announcements of a schedule of decreases for the coming years. Even in September 2025, an exceptional 0% withholding scheme was enabled, allowing exporters to advance sales of 7 billion dollars in soybeans and their derivatives, and continued with new cuts and promises of progressive reductions. The scandal is plain for all to see: while employers benefit from tax cuts, they want to haggle over the wages of those who generate that wealth.
For its part, the Union of Oil Workers and Employees (SOEA) and the Federation of Workers of the Oilseed Industrial Complex demand a basic salary of 2.8 million pesos (a 20% increase over the current one), calculated according to the historical criterion of the Minimum, Vital and Mobile Wage, considering the nine needs established in Article 14 bis of the National Constitution.
Next Tuesday a new hearing will be held, and if no agreement is reached, mandatory conciliation will end on Thursday. From Friday, the parties would be «freed» and the possibility of force measures would open. In this fight, not only wages are at stake; the employers and the government are coming for our agreements and our union organizations, as is happening with the intervened UOM. Showing determination, unity, and willingness to fight at this time prepares us to face the entire plan they have against the working people.
Oil workers have already demonstrated on several occasions their strength. The 22-day strike in 2020 and the 7-day national oil strike in 2025 left a lesson: when workers go out to fight and halt production, they can impose their demands even against the most powerful employers in the country.
Therefore, the discussion cannot remain behind closed doors. It is necessary to convene sector and general assemblies in each plant to democratically debate the situation and prepare the necessary measures. Every comrade must be an active part of the wage fight. If the employers persist with their miserable offers, it will be necessary to prepare a national strike with walkouts and pickets, discussed and organized from the ground up, so that every worker feels like a protagonist in the struggle. Experience shows that gains are not achieved by waiting for the goodwill of companies or governments, but through the organization, unity, and mobilization of those who produce the wealth every day that a handful of large exporters then take away.
para mi esto huele a choreo de los patrones hdrmp ofrecen 15k mientras se llenan los bolsillos con ganancias y el gobierno les da privilegios paro nacional ya a cagar a estos oligarcas la bronca crece y no banco mas tanta caradurez vamos aceiteros no aflojen
para mi estos aceiteros son unos k chorros de mierda k no laburan ni a palos y kieren mas plata los vagos las cerealeras mantienen el pais sin ellas no comemos nadie aplaudo a CIARA k los raje a todos viva la libertad carajo 🇦🇷