Education is a right for everyone, not a privilege for a few.

From the Institute of Research and Statistics of the Teachers' Union Association of Entre Ríos (IIE-AGMER), Member Center of CLACSOWe are making known to the rest of the centers in Argentina the critical situation that teaching has been going through in this province.

During the last year, teachers in the province of Entre Ríos have suffered a salary loss of around 30% in the face of the increase in the cost of living, leaving the starting salary currently at $450.000, just above the indigence line, an amount that remains the same with 14 years of seniority.

In a very delicate scenario that resembles what was experienced after the 2001 crisis, Governor Rogelio Frigerio is offering informal payments, which in Entre Ríos are unconstitutional and also do not reach retirees, is advancing a regressive pension reform and is failing to comply with the commitment signed in collective bargaining regarding paying the difference between the salary scale and accumulated inflation in the first half of the year.

The gravity of the situation is such that it has sparked massive support from society for this struggle, with thousands of families who on Friday, August 23, did not send their sons and daughters to school, an attitude that is moving, in open solidarity with their teachers and in the face of the impossibility of carrying out strikes due to a court order that mandated compulsory conciliation.

The conflict continues to be visible in the media, on social networks, and in the streets throughout the province. AGMER, the provincial union that represents teachers at all levels and in all modalities, from kindergarten to university, continues to firmly advocate for the demands mandated democratically by thousands of teachers in assemblies: compliance with the agreements reached in the previous collective bargaining session and a salary increase that will allow thousands of teachers to escape poverty.

From the CLACSO Centers in Argentina, we support the demands of the teachers in Entre Ríos. We also urge the relevant authorities to provide an appropriate response to these demands. Education is a right for everyone, not a privilege for a few.

CLACSO Member Centers of Argentina
29 2024 August