Averaging 8:00 p.m. this Friday, August 4, the combative and anti-bureaucratic teachers celebrated having won the capital section of the powerful Cordovan teachers’ union, the UEPC. List 2 Unidad Desde Las Escuelas was imposed against the Celeste List of the current leadership, which had a detachment (the Golden list).
From the sidewalks the new hit was heard: “we recovered the capital, let the Celeste go to work, olé, olé, olé oléa….”. The Unidad Desde Las Escuelas list, made up of the left and independent groups as well as self-convened groups that organized themselves in the heat of the struggle, expressed the central conclusions of the teaching after this process, as well as a democratic program, for the construction of a union to the service of the educational struggle and of the community, in solidarity with other workers and the popular sectors.
Although La Celeste, headed by Roberto Cristalí (who will succeed Juan Monserrat) retained the leadership of UEPC at the provincial level with 58% of the votes; while at the provincial level, List 2 Unit in Schools reached 23%. In Capital, List 2 won with 37% of the 5,842 votes compared to 35% achieved by Lista Celeste despite the dirty campaign launched by the union, the unequal distribution of members’ resources in favor of leadership, as well such as the various maneuvers for the authorization of franchises for prosecutors, polling places and a host of etceteras.
Nahuel Rodríguez, referent of the D-Base-PTS Teachers Association and member of the Board of Directors (as Recording Secretary), together with Franco Boczkowski – PO (Sec. General); Lucrecia Cocha – MST (Sec. Organization) and Benjamín Reyes – IS (Sec. Finance) expressed themselves in this way after the victory.
Laura Vilches, a teacher and councilor elected by the PTS-FITU in the City of Córdoba, highlighted the importance of this victory against the ideology of resignation and the lesser evil that local Kirchnerism militated in the process of teacher struggle. He pointed out that the victory of the PJ in the city and the province, or of whoever wins at the national level are not blank checks because, as demonstrated by the teachers’ struggle, when there is a willingness to fight to face the attacks of the governments and the resignation of the bureaucracy, if the bases find a tool and channel of organization, deploy all their energy. This is the challenge that lies ahead for the new leadership.
The recovery of the capital section of a union that has 16,675 members where the largest proportion of teachers in the province is concentrated, mostly women, is a point of support for the fight of teachers against the attacks that will come from governments subservient to the dictates of the IMF, but also as an example that union bureaucracies can be defeated. This was understood by those who supported the D-Base Teachers and List 2, such as the soap, food, chemical, and cleaning workers, among other sectors that have been fighting against the degradation of wages and job insecurity in various sectors.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
