The metropolitan urban bus system is about to enter a new stage of conflicts. The meeting between The drivers’ union (UTA), the representatives of the business chambers and several officials from the Ministry of Labor did not bring any solution. Then, the situation entered a new chapter: the drivers will go to work but a large part will not start their buses waiting for a salary difference that will not be canceled. For users that translates into one word: unemployment.
It was the unions that reported the failure of the meeting. “The business sector refuses to pay salaries in the agreed amounts, despite the fact that the National and Provincial Governments contributed the sum of more than $122,000 million in subsidies, with an increase compared to previous months of 42% and an increase in the value of the ticket that users pay by 250%, Despite this, they state that governments must contribute a higher sum because the amounts received are not sufficient to cover the costs,” the union expressed in a statement.
Then he added that Tomorrow the workers will be in the companies at the beginning of the day waiting for the payment of 100% of their salaries, as a prerequisite to starting the tasks. “We hope that business owners assume the responsibility that corresponds to them as employers and avoid affecting thousands of users,” the document highlighted. Now, according to the businessmen’s position, there will be no deposits in the next few hours. Therefore, unemployment is the most likely scenario.
Added to this situation is the internal situation of the union. The ruling faction that manages the UTA, and which leads the historic Roberto Fernández, disputes a strong bid with Miguel Bustinduythe main reference of the opposition, a leader sponsored by Hugo Moyano and by the passenger transport company DOTA, owner of approximately half of the metropolitan buses.
This division, which has already generated several clashes, many of them loaded with violence, will write another chapter. “Given the new versions that would affect the service, we inform you that the companies of the Dota group guarantee the Service since all staff have been accredited with the total amount of their salaries corresponding to the approved agreement of $737,000 initial value,” the company communicated through the network. social
The heart of the conflict is in the salary of UTA workers, specifically due to the wording of article 6 of the joint agreement that was signed back in the first days of February. Broadly speaking, a salary of $737.000composed of an initial base of $597,000 plus a non-remunerative fixed sum that was paid on February 20, $140.000. To that amount should be added a per diem for 24 days of $81,960.
For the following month, the initial basic remained at $737.000to which another fixed sum was added, which was paid on March 15, of $250.000in addition to travel expenses $101.160. In the middle of last month, the meetings between the union and businessmen were to return to agree on the subsequent months.
That never happened and on the fourth business day of this month, when it is paid, what the basic salary is, if those $737.000 February or if those who have the reinforcement of the Additional $250,000. Clause 6 of the signed and approved agreement appeared. “The parties assume the commitment to meet after March 15 and once the Consumer Price Index (CPI) corresponding to the month of February has been published in order to determine the salary for the month of March, whose The agreed calculation base will be $987,000 as the basic salary established for the month of February. for staff,” the document says.
This month, businessmen deposited those $737,000 basic salary. The businessmen say that nothing was ever agreed upon in March and that if it is, the negotiation floor will be the one that includes the additional. But that, according to his vision, did not happen. The UTA threatened with a strike starting at midnight on Tuesday, but the call for today’s meeting generated a few hours of intermission.
The union says there are no doubts, since the wording is clear; the businessmen, that when it is agreed it will be based on that basis, but for now this circumstance has not occurred. This being the case, companies will settle that salary today and not the supplemented one, so workers will have less in their pockets than last month. That difference, of 250,000 pesos per worker, is what they expect to be deposited tomorrow. And for now, that won’t happen.
“We are willing to negotiate the month of March because a definitive amount for said month has never been agreed upon, informing that as a prior step to the aforementioned salary recomposition, we need the normalization of all the missing income to comply with this regulated service, a figure that exceeds the $50,000 million per month of income recomposition, and this must be prior to any salary recomposition,” say the businessmen. In addition, always through a statement, they added: “The sector will not assume any commitment that cannot later guarantee effective compliance. “Companies have lost capital over these years and without capital there are no companies or sources of work.”
Whenever there is a dialogue table, because there is hope that the dispute will calm down. But, as in this case, when it comes to money, If a wallet does not appear with the intention of settling the account, everything seems more difficult. That is the heart of the problem right now: the payer does not appear.
The options are three. Since 20 years ago, when the subsidies began, The Government was the one that provided the money for all types of increases and benefits for workers, since the rate was, and is, regulated. But now, to that solution we apply President Javier Milei’s favorite axiom: “There is no money.”
The second option would be for the check to be signed by the businessmen. But they argue, logically, that as long as the ticket does not remunerate all the activity and depends on transfers from the State, then this scheme is unviable. The third, despite the reader’s regret, is that the financing of the proposed salary difference is assumed by the user. As? With rates.
That said, everything seems to indicate that the price of bus tickets will continue to rise in the coming months to shore up the income of companies and be able to pay for what the unions want.
There was, during these hours, a meeting between the businessmen and the Secretary of Transportation, Franco Mogetta. The official, a man from Córdoba who does not usually say a single extra word, told them that there is no money. Nothing new. In addition, he explained to them that monitoring inflation and the need for the index not to rise had been the reason why the monthly updates were not triggered, something that the Government could do since this rate scheme has been authorized since January, when hearings were held.
In the Treasury Palace they look closely at the sequence of increases announced by the Buenos Aires government of Jorge Macri for the subway. The fare table proposed by Jorge Macri’s government would take the fare, which costs $125 for those who have the nominalized SUBE, to $574 in April, $667 in May and $757 in June. That is the path that the Casa Rosada intends to take to reduce the system’s dependence on the subsidy. Strictly speaking, services that tend to be substitutes always tend to balance, since, in their case, an excess of demand could occur in one compared to the other.
In addition, costs were discussed. The calculation of subsidies is a system that requires the appreciation of all the components that make up the activity. A value is calculated and settled by company. According to business owners, many of the numbers used are outdated. In Transportation they promised to review them by the end of the month.
But, no matter how much updating there is, the current ticket value is far from equilibrium. In January, before the increase, it reached an extreme. For every 100 pesos that the activity is funded, 93 were contributed by the State and 7 were provided by the ticket. After the increase, that ratio remained at 67 to 33.
EToday’s conflict is nothing more than the latest expression of a battered system, which has not been planned for just over two decades. The transportation system in Argentina lost sustainability due to subsidies. Today is this difference; Tomorrow it could be anything else. There are three wallets, and none of them have money.