( Spanish) – Argentina has been going through growing conflicts between aeronautical workers’ unions and the Government for several months. The forceful measures that caused delays and cancellations of flights in recent days shook the airline market in the country and set off alarms in the Casa Rosada.
On Friday, a meeting took place between Aerolíneas Argentinas and the unions in which the conditions of the collective bargaining agreement were discussed and the foundations for new and better salary scales were laid. As the representative of the Association of Airline Pilots (APLA), Mateo Ferreira, stated to the Argentine media LN, “the meeting was positive”, so the negotiations will continue next Monday and there will be no union measures for the next few days. .
These events occur within the framework of the progress of the privatization project of Aerolíneas Argentinas in the Chamber of Deputies, which has already obtained a favorable opinion in committees for its treatment. Does this meeting make visible a beginning in the end of the conflict?
“This is neither more nor less than the end of Intercargo as we knew it until now,” Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesman, said at a press conference on Thursday. With this forceful ruling, the spokesperson announced the deregulation of the company that until now provided ramp service at airports. Thus, “the National Government will establish the conditions so that any commercial airline operator can provide ground assistance to airplanes and passengers at airports throughout the country, ending the monopoly of Intercargo, which was the only operator that could provide these services to third parties.” , indicates a statement issued by the Ministry of Transportation.
The dispute grew after Intercargo on Wednesday fired 15 workers responsible for ground transportation of passengers between the platform and the plane. The National Government justified the measure by stating that the employees “failed to fulfill their obligations” after a “surprise assembly promoted by the Aeronautical Personnel Association,” which paralyzed operations at the Jorge Newbery Airport in the City of Buenos Aires, a statement indicates. issued by presidency.
The Government also denounced that due to this measure of force, “hundreds of passengers, including children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with reduced abilities, were unable to get off the planes for almost three hours, which put their lives at risk. health and generated considerable delays in airport operations.”
In this regard, the head of the Aeronautical Personnel Association (APA), Edgardo Llano, objected this Friday in the Argentine media “Radio con vos” that the forceful measure that ended the 15 dismissals occurred in demand of dismissal without cause of a companion. Furthermore, the general secretary of APA ruled that “the dismissals are totally illegal because we are exercising our right to strike, which is protected by the National Constitution.”
The measure that promulgates the deregulation of the Intercargo company also enables the Security Forces to exploit, in cases of emergency and on an exceptional temporary basis, operational airport and ramp services in general, a provision that generated controversy in the airport area. Llano said about this that “no one took a dangerous goods course, no one knows how to discharge a radioactive with a corrosive, with a poison. “That takes a long time and we are exposing anyone to manipulating merchandise without knowing it.”
The representative of APLA, Mateo Ferreira, said at the end of the meeting with the Government that “in the event that an agreement is not reached in the negotiation, a preventive crisis procedure will be enabled” for the flagship company. Once again, the specter of the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas once again takes on a predominant tone.
In statements to the Argentine media TN, Transportation Secretary Franco Mogetta stated this Thursday that “there is a risk that it will close” and that the company’s problem lies in the fixed costs it has and not in its income. The head of the cabinet of ministers Guillermo Francos stated that President Javier Milei has given “clear instructions” about the future of the company: “Either the issue is resolved, or it is privatized, or it is handed over to the employees or it is closed.”
At the beginning of October, the Government published the Decree declaring Aerolíneas Argentinas subject to privatization. This regulation dictates that the initiative is enabled by State Reform Law No. 23696, which establishes that the National Executive Branch can declare a state company “subject to privatization,” and then approve the measure within the framework of the Congress of the Nation with its corresponding treatment.
The Decree argues that after 16 years of the nationalization of the company, in 2008, under the presidency of Cristina Kirchner, the objectives pursued were not achieved, and Aerolíneas Argentinas presented losses that had to be supported by the National Treasury so that the company continued to operate. In this sense, the current president of the entity Fabián Lombardo stated, in statements with the Argentine media LN+, that when his management began, in December 2023, the company had a loss of US$ 390 million per month. Currently, that deficit decreased to US$ 73 million, which reduced the operating deficit by 70%.
One of the main factors that the Decree marks as the cause of the company’s lack of financing is the number of employees and establishes that there are 14 pilots for each operational aircraft, which it describes as “a disproportionate number in relation to industry standards at the level.” world”.
On the other hand, the Decree establishes that “despite the serious economic result produced by the management of Aerolíneas Argentinas SA, its employees maintain important benefits that contribute to worsening the situation described.” These privileges are expressed in free tickets in business class for pilots and their family group, availability of free tickets for family members on holidays that employees must work and discounts for retired personnel, among others.
In this regard, Pablo Biró, general secretary of the Association of Airline Pilots, said in statements to Radio Miter that “all these benefits are agreements in the collective labor agreements that have been approved by the different governments in the aviation industry and They exist throughout the world in those terms and in greater terms.”
This week talks between the Government and aeronautical workers will continue. The future of Aerolíneas Argentinas will depend on these negotiations. For the moment, there is a consensual, but tense calm.
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