Martín Brat He is a delegate of the outsourced workers of GPS-Aerolíneas Argentinas. He is the one who wrote this article in La Izquierda Diario about the conflict that is taking place in the sector for salary recomposition, the right to strike and against the attempts of privatization that Alejandro FantinoHe read on air during his program to attack the legitimate right to strike in the aeronautical sector. In the video that we share below, Brat answers the Neura host:
“Hi Fantino, I’m Martín Brat, the outsourced worker who wrote the article you read on the air. I wanted to tell you a few things so you know the truth about workers. I have been with Aerolíneas Argentinas for 14 years, I am an outsourced worker, and I earn $750,000. My fellow baggage handlers who lift thousands of kilos earn $650,000. Don’t you think it’s a little strange to accuse us of being privileged, or the call center colleagues who earn $500,000, well below the poverty line?
In the GPS sector, they have already laid off 150 families, and they do it saying that they want to reduce the deficit. This is said by Adorni, who earns 5 million pesos per month. Strange.
Why do they talk about our salaries and not about the profits of the companies at the expense of our work? The real plan is not to attack Biró or the pilots’ fares, what they want is to attack the personnel and outsourced workers in order to finally sell Aerolíneas Argentinas and for the businessmen who are friends of Milei and Macri to make a million-dollar deal. Why don’t they talk about the scam that the privatizations in the 90s of Menemism meant, the one they did with Aerolíneas Argentinas, which made them rich with that privatization and harmed the majority of society? Why don’t the media talk about this real scam?
You give Milei’s and the businessmen’s version, it’s the one you know, we don’t know if it’s because of interests or if it’s the only one you know. We invite you to come to Aeroparque and really get to know the conditions and salaries of Aeroparque workers, and if not, we’ll go to your program to tell you how we work at Aerolíneas Argentinas and who are the ones who really take the money.”
How is the aviation conflict progressing?
This Thursday, while a strike by ATE-ANAC aeronautical workers was taking place, the Government announced that talks had begun with private companies for the sale of the company. A real extortion against the workers’ right to strike. Just a few hours earlier, Mauricio Macri also came out to attack for X the right to protest and demanded “the urgent disarmament of Aerolíneas Argentinas.”
It is worth remembering that aeronautical workers complain that they have salaries that start from 500 thousand pesos (call center) to 700 thousand (ramp and traffic), and those who have higher salaries in many cases do not cover the family basket and suffer from inflation. However, after the 24-hour strike last week, the Government decreed the essentiality of aeronautical transport, intending to curtail the right to strike, in what is a clear message for the entire working class, because it sets a precedent that attempts to restrict the measures taken by workers to make their claims to employers and the Government throughout the country.
This afternoon, meetings were held at the Association of Airline Pilots (APLA) and the Argentine Association of Flight Attendants (AAA). Once they were over, Pablo Biró, who was charged by the Government with extortion after last week’s strike, said that there “it was unanimously decided to increase the plan of struggle until the Government makes a proposal.” However, no measures have yet been announced.
It should be noted that earlier, a National Transport Roundtable was formed, a meeting where unions from the Argentine Confederation of Transport Workers (CATT) and the General Union of Transport Workers’ Unions (UGATT) came together, with the presence of the Truck Drivers’ Union of Hugo and Pablo Moyano, La Fraternidad of Omar Maturano and the Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA) of Roberto Fernández, in addition to representatives of the port sector such as the Dredging and Beaconing Union and SOMU, among others. Despite the photo, which was circulated in the country’s major media, the meeting did not include a decisive measure or a plan of struggle on its agenda to confront the attack by the Government and the Aerolíneas board of directors, which is clearly escalating.
In this context, Luciano Corradi, delegate of GPS-Aerolíneas Argentinas, said: “We need a plan of struggle from all aeronautical workers, voted on in grassroots assemblies and the complete unity of unions and workers in the sector, both permanent and outsourced, from the GPS Internal Commission. We must use all our strength to defeat this plan by the government and related companies.”
The underlying plan is to hand over Aerolíneas routes to private companies, a multi-million dollar business. But they are attacking workers who, earning between 500/800k, guaranteed connectivity, repatriations and covid vaccines. It is very noticeable, Macri and Milei want it for them. Let’s defend Aerolíneas. https://t.co/qHE0YfSbL5
— Luciano Corradi (@luchocorradi) September 19, 2024
In addition, the Left Front presented a bill against decree 825/2024, which establishes the essentiality of air transport, and the repeal of decree 831/2024, which establishes that in order to carry out a strike, workers must give “five days’ notice” and guarantee “minimum services.” It is a clear attack on the right to strike. “We maintain, together with various sectors of aeronautical workers, that this government decision is arbitrary, illegitimate and illegal,” says the text.
They want to finish off Aerolíneas Argentinas. It cannot be allowed. The privatization of the 90s was a disaster. The company went from 30 planes to 1 in private hands. The state rescued it from bankruptcy and closure. Today, Milei, Macri and their friends want to destroy it again so that…
— Christian Castillo (@chipicastillo) September 19, 2024
As we have been pointing out at La Izquierda Diario, the attack on the aeronautical workers condenses an attack on the entire working class. In other words, a political attack. The Government is trying to limit the right to strike, an elementary right for the defence of wages and working conditions. At the same time, it is trying to advance the privatisation and sale of the company, something that is part of an enormous deal that will only benefit private companies to the detriment of users, as was seen in the 90s.
The big media and their leaders also play a role in this conflict. Therefore, against the discourse of those who join the stigmatization campaign of this fight, help us spread the notes, videos and posts on social networks to give greater visibility to this fight. Join the campaign “Aerolíneas is not for sale. Long live the strike of the Aerolíneas Argentinas workers. Let’s stop Milei’s attacks against Aerolíneas, retirees and the public university.”
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
