Is the salary demanded by Argentine teachers fair?
Education in Argentina is in a "facto" strike due to the requests made by the unions to the government of Mauricio Macri
The salary situation of teachers in Argentina has been declining for some years, due to the Argentine economic problem called "Los Fondos Buitre".
Leer en español: ¿Es justo el salario que exigen los maestros argentinos?
What are they and how do they relate?
The Vulture Funds are venture capital funds that buy debt from economies in trouble, close to bankruptcy, to subsequently pressure and collect the full value of that debt, in addition to the interest for the years owed, without attending to restructurings. This, according to the newspaper El Territorio, in 2005 private US funds bought the debt of the southern country knowing that very possibly the South American country could not pay it.
This debt generated a constant inflation in the pockets of the Argentines, so much so that the country became the sixth economy with the highest inflation in the world, as stated by the economy newspaper Ambito.
On the other hand, according to the Chilean daily El Desconcierto, it was predictable that the Macri government would request a financial "rescue" from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the lack of State resources and the constant corruption scandals that dot the previous one. Argentine government.
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As usual, International Cooperation does not come to the countries right away, the States must meet some financial goals and in this case, if the Government of Argentina wants to disburse 3,000 million dollars, it must make some fiscal adjustments.
According to Infobae, the three requests for this disbursement are:
- Strong reduction of the rate of inflation
- Disarm Lubac's position
- Accelerate the lowering of the fiscal deficit until the end of 2019
In this last one is where the salary problem of the professors is framed. The situation of the austral country at the moment does not give for an increase in the salary of teachers in a 30%, it must be cut fiscal expenses, but not to increase it.
This situation has led to the unemployment of teachers and opens an economic paradox: How to raise wages when you have to cut tax expenditures? How to raise wages when it can lead to hyperinflation? The best example of this is Venezuela.
What is the position of the teachers?
The negative constants that the Macri government gives to the unions of Argentine teachers have unleashed a national strike in southern education. According to the newspaper El Colombiano, unions have asked for a 30% wage increase, since it is expected that the austral inflation is hovering the same value.
El Colombiano states that the Argentine government is willing to raise the salary by only 15%. Last week negotiations between the parties failed and several unions called for a national strike on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
However, the salary increase is not the only request made by the guild, they also want a clause called "Trigger". His exact words, according to the newspaper La Nación de Argentina, were:
"The new proposal was rejected because it does not translate IGNORE INTO a real salary increase and does not provide for the trigger clause."
In economics, a trigger clause refers to the adaptation of terms according to economic conditions; in this case, the trigger clause would be activated when Argentina's inflation rises again.
Teachers also believe that the 15% increase in wages will not be felt in real wages. At this point, the professional guild is right. If inflation rises by 30% in 2019 and wages increase by 15%, the wage increase will not be seen by workers. On the contrary, they will see that their salary is not enough to buy the basic products of the family basket.
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As the newspaper La Nación indicates, the situation is so complicated that the federal governments are trying to negotiate with the territorial unions. That is the case of the Buenos Aires government and the Front of Unit Teaching. The mayor of Buenos Aires María Eugenia Vidal offered this union an increase of 20.7% of the salary, however, this was denied.
Is the teacher salary increase fair?
With the arguments presented above, the answer is yes. The workers deserve a salary increase according to the inflation expected for each year and not only half of this percentage.
Is it possible? Not really. Raising the salary of teachers by 30% would not help the Macri government to disburse the International Monetary Fund. On the contrary, it would help to increase the prices of the family basket, which could lead to hyperinflation.
The salary increase cannot be raised by decree, it must be commensurate with inflation and, above all, with the growth of the national industry.
LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Díaz
Translated from: ' ¿Es justo el salario que exigen los maestros argentinos?'
