The president of the General Council of Education (CGE), Carlos Cuenca, defended the new salary proposal presented this Wednesday to the teachers' unions, stated that it represents "an important effort" by the Province and confirmed that the Executive considers it "the definitive proposal."
After the meeting, and in a press conference, Cuenca highlighted that the Government reformulated the offer presented on Monday based on the proposals made by the unions. "On Monday a proposal was presented that was immediately rejected. The Government worked to improve it, according to available resources and being responsible with the administration of those resources. Today we brought a fairly improved proposal," he said.
The official expressed his surprise at the rejection of the offer without it being considered by the union rank and file. "It is striking that it is directly rejected at the bargaining table, without bringing the proposal to the congresses or the unions' consultation bodies," he stated.
The teachers' unions rejected the salary offer and do not rule out a increase by decree
Cuenca detailed that the new proposal contemplates a 3% increase for July and 4% for September, with updating of the calculation base in both cases. In addition, it provides for raising the minimum teaching salary to 850,000 pesos from July, which, according to him, represents a 14% improvement over the current minimum of 750,000 pesos.
He also noted that the Government proposed an increase of between 20% and 28% in the amounts corresponding to Fopid and Connectivity, depending on the hours worked.
Regarding the union demand to incorporate these concepts into the remunerative and bonusable salary, he recalled that the Fopid was created by the Province to replace the National Teacher Incentive Fund (Fonid), after the national government stopped paying it.
"It was a decision of this governor to take charge of that payment. Today, between Fopid and Connectivity, a full-time teacher receives around 240,000 pesos. That is not a small amount," he stressed.
Administrative conciliation
After the unions' rejection, Cuenca confirmed that the process will continue within the scope of the Secretariat of Labor.
"The unions declared themselves in a state of belligerence and now the Secretariat of Labor will have five business days to call for administrative conciliation," he explained.
However, he insisted that the offer presented this Wednesday is the maximum effort the Province can make.
"We took many of the demands they raised on Monday, such as updating the calculation base and moving forward with remunerative and bonusable sums, always within the economic possibilities of the province," he said.
In that sense, he stressed that the Government sought to provide predictability by setting increases for July and September and assured that those percentages "double the current monthly inflation."
Finally, he expressed his hope that the conflict will not affect the resumption of classes after the winter break.
"Hopefully classes start normally on the 20th. It would not be good for students to lose school days. Dialogue is always open, beyond the salary discussion," he concluded.
