In the midst of negotiations to raise the bus stop with companies and workers united in the Union of Automotive Trams (UTA), the Government reported there will be fines for motor transport operators who did not perform the service this Thursday.
“The National Transport Regulation Commission (CNRT), an agency of the Ministry of Transport, has increased controls at sources and carries out inspections to ensure compliance with the frequency of bus lines services in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA). ,” the government reported.
“Consequentially, the lines that did not activate the service during the day or lowered the frequency, are already in judicial proceedings punishable pursuant to article 83 of decree 1395/1998, with fines of up to $4,050,000“Transport added.
Meanwhile at the Ministry of Labour A tripartite meeting was held at 12.30pm to resolve the conflict, which has 80% of the lines paralyzed of AMBA buses from the early hours of Thursday and affects more than 4 million passengers.
The Minister of Transport, Franco Mogetta, declared: “They take users hostage and we are not willing to give in to extortion. “The people voted for our government to fight these extortionate methods.”
And he added: “The reason for the strike is an attempt at collection by the union a sum that is only an expectation, that means, It is not mandatory, it is not required. The UTA was one of the few that agreed to beat inflation in February, when Many of the workers affected today, who could not ride the bus, could not reach this kind of wage. “They must revoke the measure and negotiate their salary like any worker.”
The maintenance of tasks is the end result of the economic crisis that the sector has gone through in the last 20 years in the heat interest rate freeze and the growth in subsidieswhich has worsened since mid-2022.
So far this year, The national state has provided subsidies to public bus transport in AMBA for approximately 190,902.25 million dollarschanneled through the Transportation Infrastructure System Trust Fund (FFSIT), according to Open Budget data.
If subsidies for trains were also added, Public transportation spending accumulated $398,047 million in the first quarter of 2024with a contraction in real terms – net of the inflation effect – of 57.63%, according to the Center for Argentine Political Economy (CEPA). The decline corresponds to the increase in rates, but also to the slowdown in payments.
Why was there a bus stop?
UTA and the companies had agreed joint ventures for January and February. In the second month of the year, drivers received $737,000 in base salary and a $250,000 bonus.
A clause of the agreement stipulated that in March the minimum earnings would be 987 thousand dollars (incorporating the bonus into the salary), but the government does not recognize this because a joint agreement was not signed for March and the following months.
This amount implies a increase of 308% on an annual basis and 83% on a quarterly basis, well above what the Government wants to validate.
The $737,000 represents an increase of 204% year-over-year and 37% quarter-over-quarter, well below inflation, which was approximately 286% year-over-year and 50% quarter-over-quarter (accumulated January- February March).
In that way, The Ministry of Transport did not include this wage bonus in the cost calculation. And the companies argue they don’t collect enough in fares and subsidies to pay the difference, which is why they paid just $737,000 in base costs to each driver.
According to the companies that manage public services, the state is missing about 12.5 billion dollars to cover the entire salaries of about 50,000 workers.
In the minutes signed this Wednesday, the Chamber of Business of Urban Transport of Buenos Aires (CETUBA), which represents DOTAalso expresses his coincidence with the government’s wage policy “to be absolutely reasonableas soon as you understand it wage agreements should not exceed inflationary indices nor validate the expectations that fuel them.
This was reported by the Argentine Association of Automobile Transport Entrepreneurs (AAETA), which represents the group Metropolthe second most important after DOTA, in February the “real” cost of a bus ticket was $1,157 -excluding VAT-.
Users pay a minimum of $270 in their fares and the state, with subsidies, another $398 per passenger to top out the $668.
For this reason, the private sector claims, it will lose $489 per ticket or $115,862.64 million per month, which is reflected in a “loss of service quality, frequencies, safety and unit renewal.”
Source: Clarin
