Argentina

The Federal Justice ordered searches of the Luz y Fuerza union headquarters and 15 private homes in the province of Córdoba within the framework of a case investigating the organisation’s leaders for alleged money laundering. It should be noted that the union was engaged in a dispute with the government of Córdoba. Raids were also carried out on the union offices and the private homes of the leaders involved in the case of the port workers’ union SUPA (Sindicato Unidos Portuarios Argentinos) in Puerto General San Martín, Bella Vista, Timbúes and Puerto Gaboto.

The authorities in Chubut responded to a teachers’ demonstration, held in protest at wage arrears of over five months, with persecution, attacks, arbitrary detentions and the imprisonment of the general secretary of the local education union, ATECH (Asociación de Trabajadores de la Educación de Chubut). Three national-level teachers’ unions, the CTERA, the UDA and SADOP, responded to these abuses by calling a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in protest at the brutal police repression and the arbitrary and unconstitutional detentions. Sonia Alesso, general secretary of the CTERA and executive member of Education International (IE), said she hoped the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike would open the way for dialogue and the resolution of the dispute with the provincial authorities.

The communal president elected in Maciel, in the province of Santa Fe, dismissed 15 unionists, prompting several unions to announce a state of alert, mobilisations, and a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike plan, urging the governor, Miguel Lifschitz, to reinstate the dismissed workers. The municipal workers’ federation of Santa Fe, FETMSAN, called a 24-hour strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in support of the demand, to be staged throughout the province on 14 November.

The ATE (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado) state workers’ union reported that one of its representatives was stopped and immobilised by an unknown assailant who beat and threatened him, making reference to his work for the indigenous peoples section of the ATE. The union said that acts like as these were the work of the intelligence services of a state seeking to silence trade union demands and denunciations. It called a press conference for 25 September, during which it gave a detailed report on the matter and underlined the state’s responsibility for the security and physical integrity of union members.

In November 2018, three Rappi workers, who had recently unionised, were dismissed after voicing grievances with the online delivery company. The unionised workers denounced the company’s refusal to reinstate them and filed legal proceedings against it for violating their right to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework . The case went to court in March 2019 and Rappi has paid fines, by way of compensation, to each of the three workers. The union was strengthened by the case and joined forces with workers from other app-based firms to form a platform workers’ union, APP (Asociación de Personal de Plataformas), devoted to improving working conditions within such companies.

Police assaulted Senegalese street vendors and a union leader from the CTA. Ómar Guaraz, general secretary of the street vendors’ union, was among those injured and dispersed with tear gas. The union leader subsequently denounced the systematic repression suffered by Senegalese hawkers in the Flores district of Buenos Aires.

The CTA (Central de Trabajadores de Argentina) denounced the violent police repression and the detention of workers from the Morón branch of electricity and energy workers’ union Sindicato de Luz y Fuerza de Córdoba. Many workers were injured by rubber bullets and several were arrested. The electricity and power workers’ protest was staged in support of collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
demands, including calls for a pay increase. The union’s general secretary, Gabriel Suárez, announced an indefinite strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , calling for freedom and an end to the repression targeting workers from the Luz y Fuerza union.

On Monday 18 March, reprisals were once again taken against workers in Mendoza, Argentina, where leaders of the state workers’ union, ATE (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado), were convicted for the second time in less than a year, in violation of their right to protest. The general secretary of the ATE in Mendoza said the government had been prosecuting and taking repressive measures against social leaders heading protests to denounce the violations of a range of workers’ rights.

The Argentinian state persisted, during 2018, with its refusal to grant legal trade union status (personería gremial) to various trade union organisations, federations and confederations. The number of organisations affected is growing with every passing year. The following non-exhaustive list provides a number of examples:

  The Federación de Trabajadores de la Energía de la República Argentina (FeTERA) has been requesting legal status since the year 2000 from the then Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security. The administrative authority in charge of processing the application has failed to issue a decision on the matter. Various ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights bodies have referred to this case on three occasions, in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
  The Asociación de Profesionales de la Salud de Catamarca, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in 2007.
  The Sindicato de Profesionales de la Salud Pública de Neuquén, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in 2008.
  The Asociación de Profesionales de la Salud de La Rioja, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in 2009.
  The Sindicato de Salud, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in March 2009.
  The Sindicato de Trabajadores Autoconvocados de la Salud de Tucumán, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in June 2010.
  The Unión de Empleados y Técnicos de las Telecomunicaciones, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in August 2010.
  The Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Obra Social para la Actividad Docente (Si.T.O.S.P.L.A.D), which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in November 2010.
  The Sindicato de Tareferos, Trabajadores Temporarios y Desocupados de Misiones, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in September 2011.
  The Movimiento Pedagógico de Liberación, a trade union representing education workers in the province of Misiones, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in October 2011.
  The Asociación Docentes Unidos de Catamarca, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in April 2012.
  The Sindicato de Trabajadores, Peones y Afines del Mercado Central de Misiones, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in October 2012.
  The Sindicato de Profesionales de la Salud Pública de la Provincia de Neuquén (SIPROSAPUNE), whose application for trade union status has been partially processed. The Labour Secretariat sent its draft decision to the minister, on 27 November 2014, but no final decision has as yet been issued.
  Sindicato de Docentes e Investigadores de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, which initiated the process of applying for trade union status in September 2016.

Tensions between unions and the national government reached boiling point in December.
Aerolíneas Argentinas sanctioned 376 of its workers for “abandoning their posts or refraining from work” on 8 November, when unions held surprise assemblies to discuss future strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action.
The assemblies were interpreted as partial strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike activity, with over 30,000 passengers on 258 flights affected at Buenos Aires’ national airports.
However, unions say the assemblies were legitimate because of the national carrier’s failure to comply with a trigger clause that would return the parties to the negotiation table over wages.
The sanctioned workers will lose 10 to 15 days’ work. They include check-in personnel, contact centre staff, carousel workers, maintenance staff and pilots.
The 48-hour nationwide strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike announced by pilots in early December was suspended after their unions agreed to talks with the government over licensing procedures for international pilots.

On 9 November 2018, the representatives of the newly-formed Asociación del Personal de Plataformas (APP) were excluded from the workforce after meeting with representatives of the transport and home delivery company Rappi Arg S.A.S. The company used the meeting to identify the executive members of the trade union and subsequently blocked their access to the IT platform that distributes the work, which amounts to a de facto termination of the employment relationship. The workers had set up the union on 1 October 2018 and were calling for decent working conditions. Their grievances include the fact that the workers have to use their own bicycle or motorbike, are on piece-rate pay, receiving a set amount based on the deliveries they carry out, have no accident insurance, receive no social security contributions and have no labour rights. The hiring conditions are lax, which allows the company to recruit undocumented immigrants and vulnerable people, whose defencelessness it exploits, denying them their labour rights.

On 25 June and 25 September 2018, two general strikes, called by the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) and backed by the CTA (Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina) and CTA-Autónoma, were staged in opposition to the austerity measures set out by the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF loan agreement was approved in June 2018, after Argentina’s currency lost a third of its value during the first six months of the year. In September, President Mauricio Macri published a video in which he claimed that the IMF had agreed to speed up the disbursement of the loans. The news that no such agreement had been signed gave way to another 15 per cent fall in the value of the peso. Since then, Macri and the finance minister have announced additional austerity measures to eliminate the primary fiscal deficit in 2019 rather than in 2020, as the Fund had initially established. The Argentine economy is already in recession, and the slowdown is likely to stretch into 2019 with a new round of austerity measures.

The strikes brought transport services, hospitals, schools, ports and banks to a standstill. The workers, united in their action, were calling on the government to review and to change the course of its economic policy, which is currently focussed on making budget cuts that will affect all the country’s basic services, hitting the most vulnerable population groups the hardest.

During 2018, the national government of Argentina maintained its refusal to engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
with education workers. The state did not convene national pay negotiations, which prevented the application of the national benchmark that provides the framework for the negotiations at provincial level. Similarly, the national judicial employees’ union UEJN (Unión de Empleados de la Justicia de la Nación) was excluded from the collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations with the Judicial Council of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (where there is a collective agreement), despite the agreement signed with the union in 2014 committing to including it and giving it access to the collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
process. The union’s exclusion left its members without representation before the state.

On 30 July 2018, unions organised a mass university march gathering more than 350,000 teachers, education staff and students to demand better working conditions and the reinstallment of paritarias (meetings between the government and unions in order to establish salary increases according to the inflation rate), which have been suspended under the neoliberal policies introduced by President Mauricio Macri’s government. “There is a national strategy to weaken public education,” said Eduardo López, general secretary of the Unión de Trabajadores de la Educación (UTE), at a press conference.

During the Kirchner administrations, the paritaria meetings for teachers were national. The national government would then place pressure on provincial governments to maintain a decent pay increase that corresponds to national inflation levels, he added.

However, Macri’s government established a minimum pay increase of 15 per cent for every single job in Argentina, despite the 25 per cent rise in the inflation rate, and eliminated the national paritarias, leaving teachers and other workers in the country well below the amount needed to survive the increasing inflation rates.

Since 6 August 2018, around 60 of the country’s public universities have been without classes because of the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action being staged by university professors who are fighting hard for a decent salary and against the budget cuts.

Argentine police brutally repressed a workers’ protest in La Plata, Argentina, using rubber-coated bullets and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, who sought to speak with a “high authority” in the Buenos Aires governorate. At least 15 people were injured, and five were detained.
Workers at the Rio Santiago Shipyard began protesting after a collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
meeting was suspended. Over 3,000 workers started a caravan at 8 a.m. Their first stop was a highway that connects Buenos Aires and La Plata, where they installed a roadblock for two hours.
The Rio Santiago Shipyard is one of Latin America’s most important, and it currently employs 3,300 workers who build ships and other industrial products. It almost disappeared during Argentina’s last economic crisis. In the late nineties, it was virtually privatised, and in 2003 it was almost shut down. Former president Néstor Kirchner recovered the public company in 2004. Since 2018, the shipyard has been threatened with being shut down.
Violence ensued after the police hit a protester with a patrol car and two protesters attempted to break the locks to the governorate’s doors. Shortly after, the police approached with water cannons and began shooting tear gas canister at the protesters.
Francisco Banegas, General Secretary of the Ensenada branch of the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (ATE), said: “We want the governor (María Eugenia Vidal) to show us some sensitivity.”

In July 2018, the Ministry of Production and Labour imposed a US$2.7 million fine on the Federación de Obreros del Transporte Automotor de Cargas. Although details of the events giving rise to the fine have not been published, it was reportedly based on the alleged failure to comply with compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation ordered by the authority on 26 December 2017. The alleged strikes were, in fact, informational meetings, lasting two hours per shift, held in the workplace. The ministry not only imposed the fine but immediately took legal action to have the union’s bank account seized, to cover the amount fined, a request which the judge in charge of National Labour Court no. 69, Dr. José Ignacio Ramonet, granted without delay. The National Labour Appeal Court subsequently rescinded the fine based on procedural irregularities and the excessiveness of the fine imposed.

Similarly, in August 2018, the Labour Ministry fined the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado US$8,000 for allegedly failing to comply with the compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation ordered with SENASA in 2015.

Another such case arose in September 2018, within the framework of the general strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike and the mobilisations called by various trade unions, as well as social and workers’ organisations. The municipal authority of the capital of Mendoza province fined the ATE (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado), the CTA (Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina) and the UOCRA (Unión Obrera de la Construcción de la República Argentina) for blocking roads during the demonstrations.

On 22 May 2018, Buenos Aires subway workers, who had been carrying out partial strikes over wages, were attacked by the metropolitan police inside the tunnels of the H and E lines. The workers intended to block the departure of trains until noon that day.
The action is part of an intensification of popular protests and labour strikes provoked by the combined effects of austerity policies, soaring inflation and Argentina’s mounting debt crisis.
Under orders from Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, scores of helmeted riot police, equipped with batons and full-body shields and firing rubber bullets, invaded the subway tunnels, pushing the workers deeper inside them. Sixteen workers were arrested, including Néstor Segovia, leader of the Asociación Gremial de Trabajadores del Subterráneo y Premetro (AGTSyP), popularly known as the “Metrodelegados”, an independent union independent union A trade union that is not affiliated to a national union. Can also be a union that is not dominated by an employer.

See yellow union

not recognised by the government.
The police attack is the latest in a series of aggressive provocations against these workers, who complain of arbitrary suspensions, being blamed for equipment breakdowns and being denied the right to join the union of their choice. Militant workers and delegates of the AGTSyP have been repeatedly dragged into court.
The union that the city and the company recognise, Unión de Transporte Automotor (UTA), agreed to a 15-per-cent wage hike this year, in three payments. Already in the first five months of 2018, inflation had been over nine per cent (a yearly rate of over 20 per cent). By the time the workers received each of the three raises, they had already been eaten up by inflation, leaving the workers with a decline in real wages.
Following the riot police attack, the workers decided to shut down the entire system until their fellow workers were released. They also picketed the jail where their comrades were held. The city justified its repression, declaring that the striking workers represent only a small minority of subway employees represented by the AGTSyP.
The repression of subway workers comes on the heels of an assault by 2,000 police against 300 workers at the Cresta Roja meatpacking plant in Buenos Aires province, to dislodge them from the entrance of the plant where they were protesting the suspension of 1,000 workers by the new owners of the firm. The riot police attacked the workers with rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon. Two workers were arrested; two others were injured by the tear gas.

Police in the province of Salta used violence to break up the protests being staged by “El Tabacal” sugar mill workers. The protests were launched in response to the company’s decision to dismiss 181 workers, including representatives of the CTA-A (Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina) and leaders of the workplace union, Sindicato de Trabajadores del Azúcar del Ingenio El Tabacal (STA-CTA). The Labour Ministry had ordered compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation , which the trade union was complying with, but not the company. The police injured various workers and arrested seven.

During 2017, the Labour Ministry continued with its policy of unjustifiably and unreasonably delaying the certification of trade union organisations, creating serious bottlenecks and blocking access to bank accounts. The following public and private sector union organisations were affected: the Asociación de Docentes Universitarios, Federación de Trabajadores del Complejo Industrial Oleaginoso, Desmotadores de Algodón y Afines de la República Argentina, Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados Aceiteros de Rosario (SOEAR), Asociación de Docentes de la Universidad Nacional de Luján, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Construcción y Afines (SITRAIC), Sindicato de Seguridad del Chaco (SI.SE.CH), Asociación de Agentes de Propaganda Médica (AAPM) and the Federación Argentina de Agentes de Propaganda Médica (FAAPROME).

During 2017, medical and pharmaceutical companies such as Elea, Casasco, Roemmers and Nova engaged in constant anti-union practices against the medical sales representatives’ union Asociación de Agentes de Propaganda Médica (AAPM). The companies systematically refused to negotiate pay increases and pressed ahead with measures to coerce members to withdraw from the union, using intimidatory tactics such as the threat of dismissal.

The Argentinian state continued, during 2017, to refuse to register trade union organisations that have been applying for registration for years. This refusal was maintained in the case of the following organisations: health sector unions Sindicato de Profesionales de la Salud Pública de la Provincia de Neuquén, Asociación de Profesionales de la Salud de Catamarca, Sindicato de Profesionales de la Salud Pública de Neuquén, Asociación de Profesionales de la Salud de La Rioja, Sindicato de la Salud, Sindicato de Trabajadores Autoconvocados de la Salud de Tucumán; telecommunications union Unión de Empleados y Técnicos de las Telecomunicaciones; the union of piece-rate, temporary and unemployed workers Sindicato Tareferos, Trabajadores Temporarios y Desocupados de Misiones; education sector unions Movimiento Pedagógico de Liberación Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación de la Provincia de Misiones, Asociación Docentes Unidos de Catamarca, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Obra Social para la Actividad Docente, Sindicato de Docentes e Investigadores de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; and the market workers’ union Sindicato de Trabajadores, Peones y Afines del Mercado Central de Misiones.

The Labour ministry has been refusing since 20 May 2016 and throughout 2017 to approve an agreement signed with construction workers’ union SITRAIC (Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Construcción y Afines) allowing the deduction of trade union levies from employees’ wages. The union initiated legal proceedings over the failure to approve the agreement, but was nonetheless unable to secure the Ministry’s compliance.

The police in the province of Jujuy violently repressed employees from La Esperanza sugar mill as they were preparing to cut off access to San Pedro bridge in a protest calling for the reinstatement of 400 workers and the payment of a bonus as well as their wages from November. Twelve people were injured and 50 were detained. The leaders of the union at the sugar mill, Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados del Azúcar del Ingenio La Esperanza, were among those arrested.

On 18 December 2017, 60 demonstrators were arrested and 162 people had to receive medical attention as a result of the repression unleashed against demonstrators protesting against the pension reform in front of the National Congress.

On 1 December 2017, the governor of Chubut province issued a decree denouncing and ordering a review of the collective agreements linked to the public sector, violating the rights of the trade union organisations in the province.

The Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and Families (SENAF) in Viedma, Río Negro province, refused to comply with the agreement signed with the state workers’ union ATE (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado), under which a commitment was made to hire the interns working for the organisation by December 2017. The government body also refused to comply with the agreement to set up a technical taskforce, with the participation of key figures from the ATE, to review a number of programmes that have become obsolete.

During 2017, private and public employers continued with their policy of recruiting workers to replace strikers, in order to put an end to the strikes. In June 2017, transport companies dismissed and replaced 160 workers, with the backing of the municipal authority, within the framework of the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike carried out by urban transport drivers. Similarly, in November 2017, the sugar company LEDESMA SAAI replaced a number of strikers affiliated to the union at the sugar mill, SOEAIL-CTA (Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados del Azúcar del Ingenio Ledesma).

The Labour Ministry took more than five months to register the elections and to issue the corresponding certification to the executive committee of the union of teaching staff at the University of Buenos Aires, Asociación Gremial Docente de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. The delay obstructed the administration of the organisation and prevented the issue of legal and accounting records, making it impossible to conduct bank account transactions. On 22 November 2017, the authority issued the certificate required but with textual errors. The trade union was once again forced to endure the consequences of the state’s ineffectiveness.

On 15 August 2017, unknown assailants attacked the office of the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA Autónoma) in the city of Berisso, Buenos Aires province. Unknown assailants set fire to the premises at around 11.30 p.m.. Materials and tools used for trade union activities were destroyed in the fire.

On 9 August 2017, worker Héctor Santiago was dismissed from the Centro Gallego in the city of Buenos Aires on account of his role as a trade union leader and his activism in the running of the organisation. The dismissal was made following a mobilisation of the workers at the Centro Gallego, who have been denouncing the asset stripping at the health establishment for years.

On 26 June 2017, two trade unionists from the state workers’ union ATE-CTA (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado) were arrested in the province of Río Negro, after a warrant was issued for their arrest in relation to incidents that took place on 24 May 2017 within the framework of a labour dispute labour dispute See industrial dispute . The workers were accused of coercion, grievous attacks against the authorities and causing personal injury. The general secretary of the ATE, Rodolfo Aguiar, and the deputy secretary, Aldo Capretti, were also prosecuted as part of the same case.

In June 2017, in the city of Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, the National Institute of Social Services for Pensioners (Instituto Nacional de Servicios Sociales para Jubilados y Pensionados), better known as the Comprehensive Medical Care Programme (PAMI - Programa de Asistencia Médica Integral) dismissed Norma Cáceres, provincial representative of the dentistry union GOA-CTA-A (Gremio Odontológico Argentino). The workers’ and trade union’s demand for Cáceres’ reinstatement was met with an unprecedented deployment of the Gendarmerie National, which was found surrounding the workplace of the unfairly dismissed trade unionist in the early hours of the morning. Four police vans were sent in and armed officers patrolled the pensioners’ welfare centre to stop the holding of a meeting near the entrance of the local PAMI office.

On 22 May 2017, in the province of Santa Cruz, the Gendarmerie violently disbanded the picket being staged by the state workers’ union ATE-CTA (Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado). Two trade unionists, Andrea Mayorga, leader of El Calafate branch, and Pablo Fariña, from the provincial commission, were arrested, and various picketers were injured.

On 14 April 2017, in the province of Tucumán, unknown assailants vandalised the local headquarters of the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA Autónoma). Large objects were thrown, breaking windows on both floors of the building. Given that the building was not broken into and nothing was stolen from the premises, it would appear that this was a deliberate and premeditated attack on the trade union headquarters. The incident was reported to the police and judicial authorities.

Within the framework of collective negotiations on pay in the education sector, the Education Minister for the province of Buenos Aires, Alejandro Finocchiaro, warned that those taking part in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike on 6 and 7 March would have their pay docked. This practice penalises the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike and is deployed in spite of a 2016 ruling by Administrative Court No. 4 of La Plata ordering the government of Buenos Aires province to return the amounts deducted to teachers for days not worked during the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike held on 1 and 2 August 2016.

In addition, the government of Buenos Aires province, led by María Eugenia Vidal, pushed the idea that striking teachers should be substituted by “volunteers” offering their services on social media under the hashtag “#VoluntarioDocenteNoAlParo” (Teaching Volunteer Against the Strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike ). The proposal was launched under the heading “My Bit for Education”, and the idea was that citizens wishing to provide school support would substitute the teachers. The proposal ultimately led to nothing and the teachers’ strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike was held without substitute teachers being hired.

The pre-metro and underground transport workers’ union, Asociación Gremial de Trabajadores del Subte y el Premetro (AGTSyP), which represents 60% of the workers in the City of Buenos Aires, has seen delays in the procedures for acquiring legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. (required to represent workers in collective negotiations, etc.), hindering the exercise of its trade union rights.

The trade union was registered in 2010 and applied for Personería Gremial, the legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. required to represent workers, in 2013. The administrative procedure confirmed that the union complied with the provisions of Art. 25 of Law 23,551 (representation of over 20% of all trade union members). Three hearings were held to determine whether the pre-existing union, Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA) had a higher level of representation. This is the result of the state only granting legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. to the “most representative” trade unions.

Given the UTA’s failure to attend any of the hearings, the administrative authority granted the AGTSyP the legal capacity to represent pre-metro and underground transport workers, whilst the UTA maintained its right to represent workers in the rest of the sector. The UTA appealed against the decision and, in March 2017, Chamber II of the National Labour Appeal Court quashed the ruling and the AGTSyP was left without legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. .

The court deemed the decision to grant it legal status was invalid because the UTA was not present at the hearings. Prerequisites of this kind render it impossible to dispute the right to legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. , given that pre-existing unions will simply not attend to avoid any change in their status.

During the first few months of 2017, Roberto Baradel, general secretary of the Sindicato Unificado de Trabajadores de la Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (SUTEBA), a member of the National Executive Board of the Confederación Trabajadores de la Educación de la República Argentina, affiliated to CTA de los Trabajadores (CTA-T), in the Province of Buenos Aires, and the international relations secretary of this trade union centre trade union centre A central organisation at the national, regional or district level consisting of affiliated trade unions. Often denotes a national federation or confederation. , was the target of serious death threats against himself and his family.

The threats were made in the context of collective pay negotiations between the Buenos Aires Province government authorities and the six trade unions representing the entire teaching staff working under this authority.

The situation was reported to the justice system and the Head of the Ministerial Cabinet of the National Executive, but no progress has been made in the investigations. Although the government is not being accused of the threats, the union organisations are denouncing the authorities’ failure to take action and the fact that the government is publically refuting and trivialising the facts, leaving the trade union leader totally unprotected.

On 9 February 2017, Rodolfo Aguiar, general secretary of the Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) and of the Rio Negro branch of CTA Autónoma, was arrested while taking part in a protest against the labour policies of President Mauricio Macri. Aguiar was beaten and held in detention at a police station in the Guido de Viedma neighbourhood, in the province of Río Negro. Aguiar and other unionised workers were arrested within the framework of security arrangements set in place by the provincial authorities ahead of President Macri’s visit to the province.

The Río Negro branch of the PTS and other organisations condemned the violent repression and criminalisation of social protest and called on the government to ensure the immediate release of Aguiar and his colleagues.

In January 2017, the Labour Ministry informed the banking sector that it would not approve the collective agreement reached in December 2016. The agreement included the reopening of the 2016 pay negotiation to make up for the loss of purchasing power during that year, the payment of a fixed additional amount plus a 10% pay rise, equal to an increase of 19.5%. The deputy secretary of Labour Relations within the Labour Ministry informed the association of public and private banks ABAPRA (Asociación de Bancos Públicos y Privados) that the agreement had yet not been legalised and the Ministry was therefore refusing to implement it.

In January 2017, the Labour Ministry declared that the election of the leadership of the sugar industry federation FEIA (Federación de Empleados de la Industria Azucarera), held in March 2015, was without legal effect. This openly anti-union decision constitutes undue interference in the organisation’s internal affairs, aimed at imposing other leaders, and violates the right to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework .

On 11 January 2017, the health professionals union CICOP-CTA (Asociación Sindical de Profesionales de la Salud de la Provincia de Buenos Aires) staged a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike at a hospital in Buenos Aires province, ensuring that minimum services were provided. The governor of the province intimidated doctors and health professionals at the province’s 80 hospitals, conducting audits to identify the strikers and sending military forces to the main event held at Hospital de Wilde. The workers were calling for the fulfilment of previously signed agreements, as well as protesting against the failure to include interns that had met the requirements on the staff and to implement the change in the pension scheme.

On 30 December 2016, over a dozen teachers who had formed a trade union, SIDUNLAM, at the National University of Matanza, in 2016, were dismissed, in breach of the law protecting trade unionists.

Notification of the dismissals was sent by email and executive members of the recently formed trade union were among those fired. Their employment was terminated without prior notice and without justification. The dismissals are clearly unfair and discriminatory, and stem from the campaign of political and anti-union persecution targeting the national federation of university teachers CONADU.

On 22 December 2016, 11 drivers from the Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA) in Salta were released after being held in detention for three and a half months for demanding better working conditions and protesting against the dismissals in the public transport sector. Judge Martín Pérez ordered the release of Sixto Tactagi, Omar Pereyra, Carlos Barrios, Jorge Banda, executive members of UTA Salta, and workers Walter Pérez, Ezequiel Malenque, Daniel González, Agustín Cayo, Cristian Figueroa, Oscar Camacho and Oscar Villa, who had been held in detention at the provincial prison since September.

The 11 drivers were released on parole, on the condition that they would undergo psychological treatment, report to the court on a weekly basis, that they would not leave the country without judicial authorisation, would not approach the UTA Salta headquarters and would not engage in any form of trade union activity. The last condition constitutes a violation of the right to organise and freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework .

On 3 December 2016, trade union representatives from the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de Control de Admisión y Permanencia de la República Argentina (SUTCAPRA) were physically attacked by a group of over 30 people, to stop a labour inspection labour inspection An authority responsible for ensuring compliance with labour laws and legal provisions relating to protection of workers through the inspection of workplaces. being held. The incident took place at the Santa Diabla nightclub, in Quilmes.

Inspectors from the Labour Ministry, who were conducting the operation together with the trade union, had gone to the establishment to inspect the work situation of the bouncers managed by the security company Kratos. One of the attackers threatened them with a firearm. The case is currently under criminal investigation.

On 16 November 2016 police officers prevented members of the Buenos Aires Teachers’ Union (Frente Gremial Docente Bonaerense) from putting posters up in the streets of La Plata. First the police sought to intimidate the workers, then a group of six men got out of two minivans and began to brutally attack them.

The following day, in the city of Santa Teresita, a special uniformed unit from the Buenos Aires police force positioned themselves at the entrance of a school where the United Union of Education Workers of the Province of Buenos Aires (Sindicato Unificado de Trabajadores de la Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires - SUTEBA) was holding a meeting, chaired by its General Secretary, Roberto Baradel.

Between January and September 2016, dozens of trade unionists were detained within the framework of labour disputes. At least 35 union leaders and activists were detained during trade union protests in Salta, the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) and Neuquén. State, press, transport and sugar industry workers were, in addition, charged with administrative and criminal offences for taking part in trade union activities.

In June 2016, the Supreme Court ruling on the “Orellano v Correo Oficial” case imposed restrictions on the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , establishing that strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action may only be called by a trade union organisation that has been recognised by the state through registration or the procedure to acquire official status (personería gremial). According to the ruling, “It is undisputable that the right to declare a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is held by a group of organised workers, trade unions, based on common interests, not by an individual worker or any group of workers.”

Since protests are not considered to be a legitimate right, the authorities repress them as a matter of course, often resorting to violence. Between January and September 2016, the police repressed at least 18 trade union protests, firing teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators.

In September 2016, Chick, a subcontractor of the Spanish multinational Telefónica, closed its doors, laying off 100 telecommunications workers belonging to the Unión de Empleados y Técnicos de las Telecomunicaciones (UETTEL - CTA). The telecommunications workers’ union had been negotiating with the company since 2013 to improve the employees’ labour rights.

On 24 August 2016, during a dispute that had brought El Tabacal sugar mill, in the province of Salta, to a standstill, police used lead bullets to put an end to a roadblock, under orders of the governor, Juan Manuel Urtubey.

With harvesting at a standstill, renewed negotiations had been scheduled to take place the day before, between representatives of the management and the workers. Representatives from the company failed to show, stirring uproar among the sugar workers, who decided to set up a complete roadblock. Moments later, riot police decided to disperse the protesting workers. The force used was so disproportionate that 30 workers were injured in the operation.

Between 14 and 21 July 2016, workers affiliated to the Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados del Azúcar del Ingenio Ledesma (SOEAIL) staged a protest, during which they set up a roadblock, to press for better pay at the company. The trade union reported that the police used excessive force against the workers, using rubber bullets and tear gas. The protests were held after the workers rejected the compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation ordered by the Labour Ministry. Gerardo Morales, the governor of Jujuy province, responded some days later to the incident with a threat to fine each worker who took part in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike AR$6,000. He did not, however, act on the threat.

On 5 August 2016, however, the Labour Ministry of Jujuy fined the trade union AR$2,355,260 for failing to comply with the compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation order. The measure led to criminal proceedings against eight trade union leaders, two union legal advisors and six workers. The union refused to pay the fine, considering it to be illegal, unconstitutional and a breach of the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike .

In addition, on 9 August, the administrative misdemeanours judge María J. Álvarez fined the union AR$3,560, based on the provisions of the Minor Offences Code that penalise protests, mobilisations and roadblocks. This fine was paid by the trade union’s executive committee.

The Argentinian state has resorted to administrative, criminal and minor offence court proceedings to restrict the right to protest, freedom of expression and freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework .

On 15 July 2016, in the province of Jujuy, sugar workers belonging to the Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados del Azúcar del Ingenio Ledesma (SOEAIL-CTA) were brutally attacked by members of the National Gendarmerie and private security guards whilst taking part in a march within the framework of an indefinite stoppage called to press for better pay and working conditions. Over 80 workers were injured by rubber bullets and several were arrested.

In June 2016, unionised workers at American Express denounced the company’s anti-union strategy, deployed since 2015, to prevent the election of trade union representatives, with a view to ensuring a list of candidates that protects its corporate interests, which include relocation, outsourcing outsourcing See contracting-out and the imposition of ever more precarious employment conditions. The unionised workers staged a demonstration in front of the company’s office building, to highlight the tactics deployed, such as the human resources management’s interference in trade union affairs, including demands made on the trade union’s leadership that a minimum number of candidates be put forward if a ballot were to be held to elect trade union representatives. Such anti-union tactics have been constant since 2015 and have become a systematic practice.

On 10 June 2016, Argentina’s air traffic controllers staged a two-day strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike after the government imposed a collective agreement endorsed by a single trade union organisation that represents less than 10 per cent of the employees in the sector. The exclusionary agreement imposes greater flexible on the workers and fails to cover disciplinary procedures and a career development plan for employees.

Argentina has 3,600 air traffic controllers, all of whom belong to the national civil aviation authority ANAC, which is to be transferred to the newly established state company taking over the management of Argentina’s air traffic services, the EANA. The trade union fears that employees may be laid off as part of the takeover process and is therefore calling for all the workers contracted to be placed on the permanent staff, as well as a democratic collective agreement and a pay rise to offset the impact of high annual inflation rates.

On 5 May 2016, leaders of the Sindicato de Trabajadores Municipales de Las Rosas were attacked with machetes whilst camping in tents in front of the municipal council building, to press the city’s mayor, Javier Meyer, to review his wage policies.

From the moment the dispute arose, the mayor showed no willingness to negotiate with the municipal workers and snubbed the compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation ordered by the Provincial Labour Ministry to find a peaceful solution to the issues raised. In addition, outbreaks of violence such as fires deliberately ignited at rubbish dumps fuelled the irritation felt among locals for the striking workers. The trade union called on the state authorities, including the provincial government, the legislature and the judiciary, to intervene to ease the tension created by the dispute.

During March 2016, teachers staged a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in Santiago de Estero and various other towns in the province to press for a wage increase. Teachers from the organisation leading the demonstrations, the Círculo Santiagueño de Docentes de Enseñanza Media y Superior (CISADEMS), denounced that the police had attacked them, carried out arbitrary arrests and prevented them from demonstrating.

In April 2016, the Sindicato Santiagueño de Docentes (SISADOC) reported that a group of teachers was assaulted whilst holding a peaceful gathering in front of the Chamber of Deputies in Santiago de Estero. The trade union reported that a group of people took their posters and placards from them and stole their mobile phones. The police intervened to stop the attack.

On 8 March 2016, a demonstation by the Minority and Education Labourers and Employees Union, composed mainly of school cafeteria cooks and porters, was violently repressed outside the General Directorate of Schools in La Plata. The union was demanding a pay rise of a minimum of 10,000 pesos, by not performing certain tasks and through peaceful demonstrations.

On 8 March 2016, police officers from Buenos Aires violently repressed a demonstration staged by education sector workers, mainly school canteen staff and caretakers, organised within the Sindicato de Obreros y Empleados de Minoridad y Educación (SOEME). The workers, who were demonstrating in front of the Schools Directorate in La Plata to press for a minimum wage of AR$10,000 (US$645), were attacked with pepper spray, sticks and rubber bullets.

Two demonstrators sustained fractures and others were injured by the rubber bullets. According to the information received, Alejandro Finocciario, the head of the Buenos Aires Department of Education, had already deployed violent measures such as these in the past and was even prosecuted for threats made to the general secretary of the Unión de Docentes de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UDOCBA), Miguel Díaz.

On 7 March 2016, a group of hired thugs physically assaulted leaders of the Mendoza branch of the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) and other demonstrators who were protesting against the dismissals at the Mendoza Casino. A group of around 50 people used sticks, stones and bricks in the attack on the ATE provincial secretary, Roberto Macho, and another three trade unionists, who were handing out flyers at the entrance of the Godoy Cruz Hippodrome, during the Clásico Vendimia de Turf horse racing event.

The case is in the hands of the investigating magistrate, who has opened a file to investigate and bring those responsible to justice on charges of bodily harm. Videos provided by the trade union as well as witnesses to the attack have been submitted as evidence.

On March 2016, workers affiliated to the Sindicato Luz y Fuerza de Zárate denounced the union-busting strategy deployed at the nuclear electricity company Nucleoeléctrica Argentina (NASA). According to the trade unionists, the company is trying to remove the legal protection covering trade union representatives so that it can unfairly dismiss a trade union leader and undermine the trade union’s work at the company. The same strategy has been used on a previous occasion and seriously affected the union’s leadership and the organisation’s day-to-day workings.

In February 2016, Petrobras refused, once again, to reinstate Roberto Aníbal Gorbarán, leader of the Sindicato del Personal Jerárquico de la Industria Química y Petroquímica, in spite of the law protecting him against dismissal and the court rulings ordering his reinstatement. At the time this report was finalised, the company was still refusing to comply with the court orders.

On 17 February 2016, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich issued the “Protocol on the Conduct of the State Security Forces in Public Protests”, which places unconstitutional limits on the right to protest and freedom of expression. Social protest is being criminalised, with demonstrators being prosecuted for breaching the right to free movement and disrupting public order.

The Protocol does not prohibit security forces from using firearms or rubber bullets to repress protests. It fails to establish any obligation regarding the use of uniforms or the identification of police officers, but does restrict media coverage of protests. According to the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the protocol is seriously flawed and contains a number of inconsistences, and, as such, threatens to give rise to serious reverses in terms of protecting the right to life and physical integrity when exercising the constitutional right to social protest.

Despite the firm opposition voiced by social organisations, the Protocol remains in force to date.

On 26 January 2015, Rodolfo Aguiar, general secretary of the public workers’ union Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) and the Rio Negro branch of CTA Autónoma, was arrested for taking part in the protest action against the dismissal of 12 subcontracted workers from the University of Comahue in Fisque Menuco (General Roca). The Federal Court of Río Negro had already prosecuted Aguiar in October 2015 for roadblocks that had been set up in August and December 2013.

On 8 January 2016, CTA Autónoma denounced the police brutality against striking municipal employees in La Plata, which left six workers seriously injured. The strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike had been called following the mayors’ decision to dismiss 4500 workers.

In December 2015 the VII Chamber of the National Criminal and Correctional Appeals Court ordered that the whole Internal Trade Union Committee of the Editorial Perfil press workers go on trial, as well ordering a lien of 210,000 ARP against union representatives Rubén Schofrin, Marcelo Iglesias, Raúl Mileo, Carlos Rodríguez, Héctor Velázquez and José Luis Quartana.

On 23 December 2015 a protest by municipal workers in the city of Sáenz Peña in the Chaco Province to demand better working conditions was repressed when three patrol cars, 10 police officers and three superintendents arrived. Without a warrant, they proceeded to remove all the workers’ and the union’s personal effects (awnings, banners, etc.)

On 22 December 2015, the public workers’ association Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) denounced the police repression of the protest being staged by employees of the Cresta Roja poultry company to demand the payment of their wages and the preservation of their jobs.

The ATE questioned the action taken by members of the Gendarmerie, on the orders of the National Security Secretary, Eugenio Burzaco, to forcibly remove the employees who were staging a partial roadblock on the highway leading to Ezeiza airport. The workers were dislodged despite having already come to an agreement with the National Security Secretary that vehicles would be allowed to circulate freely.

On 3 December 2015, 28 teachers and truck drivers from Tierra del Fuego were condemned to between eight months and four years in prison for incidents that took place within the framework of a general strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in May 2013.

In the course of 2015 the Government of Argentina continued its practice of not respecting established deadlines for the administrative procedures necessary for the registration of a trade union or the granting of legal personality to a union, delaying its decisions as a way of denying registration to the applicant union. By so doing it can make the administrative steps last years, depriving the trade unions of the right to recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. as legal entity. One such case is the Argentina Workers Centre (CTA) which applied for legal personality in 2004. By 2015 the government had still not completed the procedures, despite countless requests by the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights supervisory bodies to reach a decision.
Other requests for registration that were still pending in 2015 included the Energy Workers’ Federation of the Republic of Argentina (FETERA), which applied in 2000; the Catamarca Health Professionals Association, which began proceedings for union registration in 2007; the Neuquén Union of Public Health Professionals, whose proceedings began in 2008; the La Rioja Health Professionals Association and the Health Union, whose began their application in 2009; the Tucumán Self-organised health workers’ union and the Telecommunications Employees and Technicians Union, who applied to register their union in 2010; the Misiones Union of Piece-Rate, Temporary and Unemployed Workers, the Pedagogical Liberation Movement and the Misiones Province Education Workers union who began their registration proceedings in 2011 and the Catamarca United Teachers’ Association and the Misiones Central Market Workers and Labourers Union, who applied in 2012.
In August 2015 the VIII Chamber of the National Labour Appeals Court ordered the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to register the Villa Maria Commercial and Services Workers’ Union (UTRACOS-CTA A) within ten days. It had applied for registration in 2005 and the Ministry of Labour had refused to grant it despite rulings in favour by the relevant administrative bodies.

The Professional Divers’ Association has tried to negotiate a collective agreement with Antares Naviera S.A. , Möhn Drilling A.S and the Argentinian Chamber of Diving and Rescue (CABUSA) since 2014, but the employers kept dragging out the negotiations. In the course of 2015 they did not attend the majority of the meetings organised by the Ministry of Labour and refused to provide a list of negotiators for the administrative records.

The Autonomous Argentina Workers’ Centre (Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina – Autonoma CTA-A) reported repeated interference in trade union elections by the administrative authorities. On 26 May 2014 the National Leadership of the Trade Union Associations of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security issued a ruling in which it rejected the validity of the CTA-A’s election announcement.
During 2015 the election of trade union representatives at the workplace under the umbrella of the National Social Security Administration (ANSES), and organised by the State Employees’ Association (ATE) was dismissed by the Ministry of Labour, under whose authority the ANSES falls, on the grounds of legal ineffectiveness.

Municipal workers affiliated to the State Employees’ Association were violently dispersed by 90 agents from the police and the Special Operations and Rescue Unit (Cuerpo de Operaciones Especiales y Rescate - COER) on 16 September 2015 in Catriel, Rio Negro Province, during a gathering to demand that the commune comply with the decision resulting from arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation by the Labour Ministry.

On 6 August 2015, during a demonstration by National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) workers along the Av. General Paz to demand decent salaries, members of the police and the armed forces violently detained two workers and held them for six hours. One of them was Nelson Ferreyra, a delegate from the INTI State Employees Association (ATE-CTA A) INTI and the other was Alejandro Sirota, a researcher at the institute. Just after 4.00 pm they left the Institute’s headquarters and were intercepted by police; other workers tried to avoid being detained and were struck forcefully. Some of them needed emergency medical aid for bruises and cuts to the head.

On 28 July 2015, the National Gendarme Service fired tear gas and rubber bullets at bus drivers holding a demonstration on a motorway in General Pacheco, in the Buenos Aires province. Thirty eight were wounded, and eight arrested. Workers on the 60 bus line, belonging to the Monza company, were demanding the reinstatement of 53 dismissed colleagues and an end to the persecution of their union representatives.

On 14 April 2015, in the city of Bariloche, Rio Negro province, workers from the Rio Negro Judicial Workers’ Union (SITRAJUR) were notified just a few minutes before beginning a one hour stoppage to protest inter alia against the dismissal of a group of workers, that the Public Prosecutor had issued an order prohibiting all employees from leaving their post.

In March 2015, representatives of the ADEMYS teachers’ association held a rally at the entrance to the Education Ministry in Buenos Aires to denounce the political persecution and discrimination of their union, and attempts by the authorities to deny ADEMYS representation on various discussion and negotiating bodies. The union had also been prevented from taking part in the pay, statutes and grading commissions.

In March 2015 during teachers’ strikes in the Buenos Aires province, the provincial government threatened the strikers by announcing that deductions would be made from the salaries of teachers taking part in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike and that any head teachers who went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike would face sanctions.

On 16 March 2015, State employees in the Mondoza Province held a 24-hour strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike to demand a pay rise. The local unions took industrial action industrial action Any form of action taken by a group of workers, a union or an employer during an industrial dispute to gain concessions from the other party, e.g. a strike, go-slow or an overtime ban, or a lockout on the part of the employer. in response to a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike call at the national level by the Argentina Workers’ Centre (Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina - CTA). However, the rally and roadblocks had consequences: the Mendoza city authorities, in Mendoza Province, fined them for violating the Coexistence Code, which prohibits the blocking of traffic to hold a demonstration. The Security Secretary of Mendoza himself, Raúl Levrino, informed the unions that they would be fined 20,000 pesos.

Police violently disrupted a meeting held by the Educators Union of the Cordoba Province (Unión de Educadores de la Provincia de Córdoba - UEPC) on 24 February 2015 in the city of Cordoba during a series of protest demonstrations against their employer, the government, and detained four trade union leaders, who were later released.

On 2 March 2015, the police detained Federico Chilaver, the Youth Secretary of Autonomous Workers Centre of Argentina (CTA Autónoma) in Montecarlo, Misiones Province, during a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike by the Pedagogical Liberation Movement (MPL) and the Misiones Education Workers’ Union (UTEM/CTA A). He was released after spending a few hours at the Monetcarlo police station. The union also reported that several union leaders had been intimidated during the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike .

In February 2015 the Corrientes Education Workers Union (Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Educación Corrientes - Suteco) held a general assembly, two weeks before teachers returned to the classroom. The union decided to urgently demand parity for teachers according to the terms of Law no. 6030. It also decided to inform the Under-Secretary of Labour that, by virtue of article 25 of this law, if the Provincial government did not call for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
, the union would have the right to take industrial action industrial action Any form of action taken by a group of workers, a union or an employer during an industrial dispute to gain concessions from the other party, e.g. a strike, go-slow or an overtime ban, or a lockout on the part of the employer. . Furthermore, the law sanctioned breaches of this article with fines. The union pointed out that there had been no negotiation, only informal meetings at the Ministry of Finance, where the unions had no decision making power. Consequently Suteco decided not to sign the official resolution.

The Salta region health professionals’ union Asociación de Profesionales de la Salud de Salta (APSADES), affiliated to the Federación Sindical de Profesionales de la Salud de la República Argentina (FESPROSA), was ordered to pay a fine of 186,000 pesos by the provincial Labour Secretariat for failing to respect mandatory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation requirements. The fine was imposed when a 24-hour work stoppage was called for 25 April 2014, during which only emergency services were to be covered, according to the union’s general secretary, Dr. Graciela Aquere Riggieri.

In Riggieri’s view, the fine is aimed at undermining the union, to stifle its legitimate demands, which have been the same for years, and rather than trying to reach an agreement has achieved nothing but to sow doubt regarding the will to settle the provincial dispute, which is not merely limited to the education sector but includes other sectors in increasing numbers.

On 20 February 2014, the Confederación General del Trabajo denounced the repressive action taken by security forces to quash a protest being held by municipal workers to press for decent working conditions in San Pedro, Jujuy. The trade union confederation also condemned the police raids on the homes of workers and trade union leaders.

In December 2013, four oil workers were sentenced to life in prison in the town of Las Heras, province of Santa Cruz.

The workers were accused of killing a police officer in 2006, during a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike demanding a salary increase. Ramón Inocencio Cortez, José Rosales, Franco Padilla and Hugo González will have to spend the rest of their lives behind bars with no evidence of their guilt. The sentencing was based only on the incriminatory testimony of one person, whose statement was obtained under illegal maltreatment (torture).

In the province of Misiones, Diego Armando Silveira, a young union leader of the Sindicato de Trabajadores del Mercado Central (Central Market Workers’ Union) was detained in November 2013 together with two fellow unionists. This took place during a conflict in which the workers were protesting against employers not complying with working conditions established in the agreements made with the union.

In order to repress this demonstration organized by the union, the workers were arrested and brutally beaten by the police of Regional Unit X.

A police report was filed thereafter, accusing the police officer of brutality, but the case never moved forward.

Silveira was ’’accused’’ of attempted murder, based upon the suspicious assertion of a person who described his alleged aggressor with physical features similar to Silveira. The worker was arrested and taken to the local precinct, where he was placed in detention and subject to illegal maltreatment and brutality.

The Central de los Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA) reported, in November 2013, that the pharmaceutical industry has launched an intimidation campaign against various leaders of the Asociación de Agentes de Propaganda Médica (AAPM-CTA), including its General Secretary, Ricardo Peidro, who is also a member of the TUCA Executive Committee.
According to the CTA, employers from the pharmaceutical industry, grouped in the Cámara Argentina de Especialidades Medicinales (CAEMe), Cámara Industrial de Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Argentinos (CILFA) and the Cámara Empresaria de Laboratorios Farmacéuticos (COOPERALA), decided to initiate criminal proceedings against workers and their representatives, in response to protests staged by the AAPM following the employers’ refusal to negotiate in good faith within the framework of national collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
with medical sales representatives.
According to the information provided by the CTA, the pharmaceutical industry, through the ROEMMERS Group, decided to initiate criminal proceedings against workers involved in the protests, including leaders of the AAPM who also hold positions in the CTA.

In August 2013, in Tierra del Fuego province, the provincial government responded to trade union protests by doggedly pursuing social activists and criminalising social protest by bringing prosecutions against education workers and truck drivers. The conflict stems from the provincial government’s non-compliance with the collective agreements, through the absence and delaying tactics of its representatives as well as harassment in the form of sanctions and salary deductions imposed on workers taking affirmative action in defence of the national social security system.

On 12 August 2013, leaders of the Asociación de Educadores Provinciales (ADEP) and the Centro de Docentes de Enseñanza Media y Superior (CEDEMS) were repressed by the police while demonstrating peacefully in front of the Ministry for Education.

On 28 August, the Jujuy police suppressed a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike by civil servants for better wages and arrested the General Secretary of the Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE), Fernando “Nando” Acosta, along with 200 other people.

In July 2013, the Asociación de Supervisores de la Industria Metalmecánica (ASIMRA), affiliated to IndustriALL, has put its members on a state of alert in response to the employers’ refusal to discuss changes to the job classification categories set out in the current collective agreement.

In June 2013, the Governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli, threatened to bring a criminal prosecution for extortion and coercion against the General Secretary of the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Educación de Buenos Aires (SUTEBA), Roberto Baradel, simply because he had tried to defend quality public education in the province of Buenos Aires.

On 7 May 2013, workers affiliated to the Unión de Empleados y Técnicos de las Telecomunicaciones (UETTEL) staged a demonstration in front of the headquarters of Elecnor Argentina S.A., a subcontractor of Telefónica, in protest at the “employer’s decision to dismiss 300 workers”. The trade unionists stated that the measure was an attack on trade union freedom as the workers dismissed were trade union members.

Following pressure and demonstrations by the union, Telefónica Argentina forced Elecnor to renegotiate their contract and to reinstate the workers who had been dismissed.

In February 2013, the Unión Obrera Gráfica Cordobesa, representing workers at the Talleres Gráficos La Moneda SACyF – Offset Nis, condemned the dismissals of part of the staff and actions to strip the company’s assets within the framework of an ongoing trade union dispute caused by a constant delay in the payment of salaries and non-compliance with labour standards.

Workers at the Teleperformance multinational company which provides client services, technical support, telesales and payment collection services, decided to organise one hour stoppages each day in protest at their poor working conditions and management’s refusal to negotiate.

On 7 January the company began to empty its Hipólito Irigoyen offices, asking workers to choose between “voluntary departure or moving to another location”, which resulted in breaking up the organised workers.
Subsequently, the company proceeded to dismiss 11 union delegates and activists, although they were later reinstated further to a decision of the internal committee. In April the company dismissed 110 workers for being “unproductive” and hired new staff with no history of trade union involvement. In July the company stopped attending the conciliation conciliation An attempt by a neutral third party, a conciliator, to aid the settling of an industrial dispute by improving communications, offering advice and interpreting issues to bring the disputing parties to a point where they can reconcile their differences. The conciliator does not take as active a role as a mediator or an arbitrator.

See arbitration, mediation meetings organised by the Labour Ministry and in August it unilaterally decreed the suspension of all workers and the closure and liquidation of the company. As a result is was prosecuted for disruption.

The 1,340 workers at the transport company Micro Ómnibus Norte S.A. (Monsa) organised a work stoppage in September after repeated violations of their rights by the company, including the non-payment of allowances, poor occupational health and safety conditions and a lack of recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. of their union delegation in its defence of the workers’ interests. On bus line 60 the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike extended into the month of October in protest against attacks on the granddaughter of a delegate taking part in the negotiations, who was threatened and tortured, and told that her granddad would be killed if the workers did not drop their demands.

Workers at IBM complained that the company was trying to prevent the computer workers’ union “Unión Informática”. The workers presented a set of demands to improve their working conditions and to protest at the dismissal of 200 workers. The workers went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike on 28 July 2011. They later submitted complaints against the management of the enterprise for threatening dismissals and penalties against those who had taken part in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike .

Workers from the Santa Cruz Private Oil and Gas Workers’ Union went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in April 2011 to demand better working conditions in the companies in the industry. Workers from the oil companies based in the Argentinian provinces of Río Negro, Neuquén and La Pampa also stopped work in November 2011. They were calling on their companies (including YPF, Repsol, Total and Apache Corporation) to sign a collective agreement introducing pay rises for most of the staff, in response to the high level of inflation, which had reached 20% a year and was seriously affecting their incomes. The oil companies were consistently reluctant to negotiate with the union.

There are still some bogus labour cooperatives used to thwart the creation of trade unions. At least 1,500 railway workers are hired using this method, whereby workers are registered as supposed business associates, and are not paid a salary but instead make “withdrawals” from the cooperatives profits. Further to complaints the government has dealt with this serious problem by cancelling their permission to operate in many cases. The cooperatives have launched legal appeals against these cancellations.

On 3 July, workers at Kraft Foods held a demonstration at the plant following the multinational’s refusal to offer better protection against the H1N1 swine flu virus. Kraft’s response was to fire 156 workers, including a number of union representatives and members of the internal union committee.
Unable to reason with the management, the workers decided to occupy the plant on 7 September, and to launch an action plan to give greater visibility to this labour dispute labour dispute See industrial dispute that had already gone on for two months and was also linked to demands for other labour rights and guarantees.
The workers continued to stage marches and protests, blocking roads and streets to demand respect for their rights. On 25 September, they met with violent repression at the hands of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police. Hundreds of police officers stormed the plant and charged at the striking workers, wielding truncheons and tear gas. Four people were seriously injured and 65 workers were arrested.
Following this incident, demonstrations were held on the city’s main streets. After a total stoppage lasting 38 days, the company saw itself with no option but to reinstate 70 workers. Meanwhile, the labour courts ruled that the company should reinstate the union representatives. On 16 October, a statement was signed in which the company pledged to reinstate 33 workers, upholding 53 dismissals, and the workers agreed they would not use forceful measures or block roads and streets. The labour dispute labour dispute See industrial dispute remains ongoing, as the company is pursuing the legal actions initiated against a number of union representatives, and the workers continue to demand their rights and guarantees, as well as the reinstatement of all those dismissed.