ARGENTINA: Adjustment sparks Social Crisis in Neuquen Province

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 14 1997 (IPS) - Teachers went on strike across Argentina Monday protesting at the harsh tactics used to repress a teacher’s strike in Neuquen province, which left one dead several wounded.

The teacher’s union responded to the call by members in Neuquen, who walked out 35 days ago as a sign of their rejection of the 20 percent salary discount imposed by the provincial government, and the dismissal of 1,200 sector workers.

The General Workers Confederation strongly opposed the repression of the conflict, authorised Saturday, announcing they would carry out a day of national mourning with a 30 minute stoppage for the death of one worker and against the violence which left at least 20 people wounded.

Union sectretary general, Rodolgo Daer, warned “the people can’t tolerate the adjustment any more,” demanding the government tell the international organisms the people “can’t put up with this economic policy.”

The teachers’ protest, which started March 10, turned to tragedy in the area of Cutral Co, in Neuquen, where a group of parents, teachers and pupils blocked the highway into the province last Wednesday.

The area had already been hit by the closure of a YPF oil plant, following the privatisation of this company. This conflict had also culminated with a roadblock on the same highway and police action to remove demonstrators.

Unemployment is running at 35 percent of the active population in Cutral Co, and the provincial government has not fulfilled promises to create new sources of labour. The authorities are also refusing to negotiate with the teachers.

The intransigence of the provincial government was demonstrated by the decision by federal justice, endorsed by the political power holders, to ask the Interior Ministry to send in the gendarmes to clear the road of protesters.

The security forces closed on the people Saturday, using rubber bullets, water cannons, batons and tear gas. The repression continued in local neighbourhoods, where the officers forced their way into some houses to beat and arrest dozens of strikers.

The police version, heard in the provincial Interior Ministry, suggested the demonstrators had included groups of young left-wing activists, armed with stones and molotov cocktails.

One 27 year-old woman was killed in the action, although she was not even a member of the striking union.

Her death has become an emblem for the people of Cutral Co, although the gendarmes and provincial police have denied all responsiblity for the crime.

The opposition Frente Pais Solidario (Frepaso), accused by cabinet leader Jorge Rodriguez of leading the teachers’ strike, called for the resignation of Interior Minister Carlos Corach, Monday, although he refused to stand down.

Frepaso Senator Graciela Fernandez Meijide, said the minister had also refused to be formally questioned by Congress in 1996, when the police attacked a soup kitchen in a public square during a general strike.

“If he refuses to give explanations, we will be obliged to ask for his resignation,” she said.

Corach justified sending in the gendarmes on the request of the province, adding “the blocking of roads is intolerable, and puts people’s personal security at risk.”

He also called on the political parties “not to incite violence.” Meanwhile, Jorge Rodriguez tried to rob legitimacy from the strike by saying the teachers of Neuquen – 1,500 km Southwest of Buenos Aires – “are those who earn most, and are therefore the most politicised.”

Teachers are paid 500 pesos (on a par with dollars) per month, while the family consumer basket (the minimum expenditure for a family) costs 1,300 pesos in this province. However, the salary is higher than the minimum in other districts.

Fernandez Meijide announced his party would call for a vote of no confidence against the head of the cabinet, because of his declarations about the teachers and his accusations against Frepaso.

Meanwhile, the teachers met with the provincial authorities this weekend, who offered to take the 1,200 dismissed workers back on, discounting “only” 50 percent of the days missed due to the strike, against the 100 percent offered last week.

But there has still been no proposal to answer the teachers’ call to repeal the decree cutting salaries by 20 percent from last January. Negotiations are also underway to open a fertiliser plant in Cutral Co, as was announced in June 1996.

The teachers’ union are also criticising the national government, which spends millions of dollars arming the gendarmes with the latest weaponry while denying funds to the teachers of the province.