The head of the union for the Subte and Premetro (AGTSyP), Roberto Pianeli has announced strikes could continue past Monday if salary negotiation demands are not met. The first of two planned subte strikes began last night at 9pm and was due to last until Sunday. The second strike by UTA workers was due to start on Monday and last for 72 hours but was lifted yesterday by Secretary General Roberto Fernández.
Now, however, the metro-delegates responsible for this weekend’s strike are threatening to continue if their demands are not met. They are demanding a 28% salary increase from concessionary train company, Metrovías.
“We are waiting until the last minute” said Pianeli this morning, “if there is no agreement, our partners are going to continue with the strike.”
Subte and Premetro workers are angry about the lack of negotiation on salaries which they claim should have been resolved in March.
“At the beginning of March we should have confirmed our salary agreement for this year and part of next year. The company does not want to negotiate” said Pianeli.
Workers protested in May after accepting an offer from the train company, however on Friday, talks re-commenced with hopes to involve both the national and city governments.
AGTSyP will be holding a press conference on Sunday to inform the public of the outcome of their demands and state whether or not their strike will continue to Monday. The original strike planned for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday planned by the UTA was cancelled yesterday by the general secretary of the union, Roberto Fernández.
He said “We broke the strike we were going to start on Monday to facilitate conversations between the national and city government of Buenos Aires.”
However he also warned that “If in 72 hours, no solution has been found, conflict will inevitably re-appear.”
Meanwhile the city and national government continue to fight over who should take responsibility for the subte. Since the beginning of July, both have been in talks, with Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo calling for city Mayor Mauricio Macri and Buenos Aires provincial governor, Daniel Scioli to establish a tripartite transport body for the city.
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