Argentine teachers union calls for nationwide strike

The category also demands that the Milei government resume the National Incentive Fund for Teachers, which increases teachers’ remuneration through transfers from the Executive Branch to the provinces. Without the fund, teachers saw their salaries reduced by 10% to 20%, according to the union.

The National Teachers Incentive Fund was approved in 1998, during the Carlos Menem government (1989-1999). A lei determines that this transfer is financed by the taxation of cars, motorcycles and bicycles. President Javier Milei repealed the legislation in March.

In a statement, CTERA stated that the country’s teachers had a reduction in purchasing power and the end of the fund deepened conflicts between the Argentine federal government and the provinces.

“The lack of answers [do governo Milei] resulted in the loss of purchasing power of our salaries – since December 2023, there are teachers with salaries of 250 thousand pesos –, educational defunding in all areas, aggravating and deepening provincial conflicts, given the absence of the State as guarantor of the minimum teaching salary and the resources necessary for the functioning of the educational system”said the union.

In addition to salary demands, the category asks for funds for the infrastructure of the educational system, school cafeterias, educational programs and the reinstatement of all workers dismissed from educational areas.