Striking Salta, Argentina teachers mobilize against their union
Workers Struggles: The Americas
19 March 2019
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Latin America
Striking Salta, Argentina teachers mobilize against their union
Thousands of striking teachers mobilized last week in the streets of Salta in northwestern Argentina in repudiation of their union “representatives”. The teachers demand that the education authorities negotiate directly with them.
The strike began nearly two weeks ago, after an assembly of teachers rejected a wage deal between the government and their union, negotiated behind their backs. The agreement would have raised teachers wages by 35 percent; with government bonds of 5,000 pesos in two payments.
Instead, the strikers demand a first payment of a thirty percent raise in one payment plus two payments of 19 percent.
Bolivia: San Cristobal miners demand 12 years of unpaid Sundays
On March 12, 800 miners, members of the Bolivian Federation of Miners (FSTMB), rallied in La Paz, Bolivia, demanding that the Transnational Sumitomo Corporation pay up on 12 years of unpaid Sunday work. Sumitomo owns the San Cristobal mine. The protesters condemned Cesar Navarro, the mining minister, for being an accomplice with Sumitomo.
Bolivian labor law mandates that workers that labor on Sundays be paid triple their hourly wage. San Cristobal and Sumitomo have refused to obey since 2007. Government officials are calling for arbitration and asking miners to refrain from further protests.
University Workers protest in Mexico City
On March 15, hundreds of striking university workers marched in Mexico City accompanied by teachers and other supporters. The issue is wages. The government has not responded…