Train drivers strike suspended following government intervention

Updated Wednesday 5.50 p.m. The train driver strike announced for Thursday was suspended following a government-imposed “mandatory conciliation.” The order, issued by the human capital ministry, bans all protests for the next two weeks and mandates that both sides continue discussions and negotiations.  Train drivers’ union La Fraternidad was set to go on strike following a failed salary negotiation with authorities of state-owned train companies holding Ferrocarriles Argentinos. On Tuesday, union representatives met with officials from Ferrocarriles Argentinos to discuss salary increases. La Fraternidad deemed the offer insufficient on the grounds that the raises would be below inflation. “The meeting was bad, and that’s why we are going through with the strike,” La Fraternidad leader Sebastián Maturano told news channel C5N. He added that the conversation was “in vain.” The 24-hour strike will affect all train lines in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. This includes the lines Belgrano Norte, Belgrano Sur, Mitre, Roca, Sarmiento, San Martín, Urquiza, and Tren de la Costa. According to Maturano, authorities of the holding that manages the trains offered a 2% retroactive increase based on the December salary, even though the December inflation was 2.8%. For January, their offer was 1.4%, and 1.3% for February and March.  “This seems low to us, because we believe the January inflation will be 3.1%.” Maturano also questioned the credibility of the inflation numbers released monthly by Argentina’s statistics institute INDEC, suggesting the figures are actually higher. “What the INDEC says is a lie, that’s why the person who was in charge of it quit,” he said, referring to the departure of Marco Lavagna just days before launching a new measurement system he had been working on for the past years. In the event of labor disputes between unions and companies, the national state has the power to declare a “mandatory conciliation” period of 15 days to encourage a potential solution, during which unions cannot carry out strikes or any other industrial actions.Maturano said that such a measure is a possibility in this case and that they would comply if ordered to lift the strike.The Herald asked the transport secretariat for comment about the possibility of declaring a conciliation period, but had not replied at the time of writing.