Argentine educator takes to streets to ask for budget increase

Record ID: 103937

  • Title: Argentine educator takes to streets to ask for budget increase
  • Date: 12th May 2016
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (MAY 12, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS MARCHING WITH BANNERS, FLAGS AND FLARES GENERAL VIEW OF MARCH BANNER THAT READS: "IN DEFENCE OF EDUCATION AND PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES" MORE OF PROTEST BANNER THAT READS: "PUBLIC CLASSES, IN DEFENCE OF OUR UNIVERSITY" GENERAL VIEW OF PROTESTERS SITTING DOWN VARIOUS OF PROTESTER WOMAN TAKING NOTES POSTER DEFENDING PUBLIC EDUCATION GENERAL VIEW OF PROTEST VARIOUS OF MORE OF STUDENTS TAKING NOTES DURING OUTSIDE SESSION SIGN THAT READS: "WE WANT TO STUDY" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NICOLAS KREPLAK, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BUENOS AIRES, SAYING: "The important thing is that the university, which is now going through serious problems because the budget does not enough and because the teachers' collective agreements are insufficient for what is happening with the economy of the country and we believe the importance of public universities and researchers in our country should not be neglected. The teachers with the immense support of the students believe that we must defend this education. This is the success of the people and we will not easily let it go." VARIOUS OF TEACHER GIVING CLASS TO STUDENTS OUTSIDE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE STUDENT CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BUENOS AIRES, NICOLAS SPANGENBERG, SAYING: "The trigger for this conflict is regarding teaching. We are in the sixth week of fighting and the government maintains its latest offer, which is 15 percent now 11 percent and 6 percent afterwards. This is still insufficient due to inflation and tax hikes. Therefore that is why this measure of organising a march with all sectors was taken, demanding first that we receive a 45 percent increase as demanded by teachers but also a higher budget for the UBA (University of Buenos Aires)." VARIOUS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS MARCHING
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2016 00:03
  • Keywords: University of Buenos Aires Plaza de Mayo Buenos Aires budget stipend
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • City: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Education,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014HI99VN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of Argentine teachers from public and private schools on Thursday (May 12) took to the streets in capital Buenos Aires to protest what they call the government's failure to comply with agreements reached with teachers' unions in February regarding salaries and working conditions. Many of the protesters see the activism as a bid to sure up public education in the country where the public schools are held in high regard.
    A few such protests have taken place since centre-right Mauricio Macri became president in December.
    The country's six powerful teachers' unions said they were promised a 31 percent wage increase, which they have yet to receive.
    Holding banners, flags and flares, demonstrators marched through the streets from Plaza Houssay towards the Ministry of Education in downtown Buenos Aires.
    Once outside the Education Ministry, members from the Argentine Workers' Central Union read aloud a document stating they were asking for an increased education budget and greater access to education, among other demands, local media reported.
    "The important thing is that the university, which is now going through serious problems because the budget does not enough and because the teachers' collective agreements are insufficient for what is happening with the economy of the country and we believe the importance of public universities and researchers in our country should not be neglected. The teachers with the immense support of the students believe that we must defend this education. This is the success of the people and we will not easily let it go," said Nicolas Kreplak, professor of physiology at the University of Buenos Aires.
    Striking teachers demand that Macri's government begin talks to negotiate their salary and other work-related issues.
    Teachers are now asking the government to raise wages as high as 40 percent, according to local media reports.
    "The trigger for this conflict is regarding teaching. We are in the sixth week of fighting and the government maintains its latest offer, which is 15 percent now 11 percent and 6 percent afterwards. This is still insufficient due to inflation and tax hikes. Therefore that is why this measure of organising a march with all sectors was taken, demanding first that we receive a 45 percent increase as demanded by teachers but also a higher budget for the UBA (University of Buenos Aires)," said the president of the student centre at the University of Buenos Aires, Nicolas Spangenberg.
    This is one of a few education protests that Macri, Argentina's first non-Peronist president in more than a decade, has faced since taking over with promises to end leftist populism and revive the South American nation's ailing economy.
    One of Macri's first moves in power was to slim down Argentina's bloated public payroll, firing thousands in a bid to tame a ballooning fiscal deficit.
    Looking to cool inflation, Macri had hoped pay increases would not be any higher than the 2016 inflation goal of 25 percent. But a source at the labour ministry who has been present at wage negotiations said "there was no 25 percent roof."
    Macri's education ministry said the claims were based in "false data" and were floated to "create a crisis where there isn't one," according to Argentine media.
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