On Wednesday, the hallways, waiting rooms and toilets were empty. In contrast to that image, the entrance to Combate de los Pozos was packed. There was a sense of unity; we, the workers who run the hospital on a daily basis, were there all day. We met nurses, stretcher-bearers, doctors, technicians, instrument technicians, kindergarten teachers, administrators, maintenance personnel; joining together to demand a salary increase, that no worker be paid below the family basket, no to the salary tax, for the unhealthy regime against the brutal adjustment and in defense of public, free and quality health care.
Voices of the strike
The strike was felt strongly, it was one of the most important in recent times and there were also solidarity sectors present. Alejandrina Barry, Andrea D’Atri and Patricio del Corro from the PTS, Vanina Biasi and Gabriel Solano from the PO and Celeste Fierro from the MST participated from the benches of the Left Front. We had the solidarity presence of workers from the Teatro Colón who added their art to the day, from the internal Board of ATE Trabajo and from the Zanón factory, a ceramics factory without bosses in Neuquén.
There is a common denominator for such a show of force and anger that runs through all sectors: it is the terrible austerity measures that the government is unleashing on workers, denying an increase in the budget for public health, vetoing an increase for those who have worked all their lives and repressing retirees, while cutting their medication by 100%.
Alejandrina Barry legislator porteña for the PTS at FITU He noted: “Something that characterizes this hospital is the struggle and unity in defense of public health. For their own rights but also for the public health of children who are being so bastardized at this moment, the main victims of the adjustment. Today I am really excited to see the unity that exists in this strike, which is really overwhelming, it is really massive, and because they are an example for the rest of the country.”.
We also see the adjustment in the families who come to the hospital, they are part of that percentage that have health programs closed, that do not have money to buy medication. Many of these families are part of the 52% of poverty that has grown in recent times. Where 1 million kids go to bed without dinner and among adults that number grows to 4.5 million who skip a meal. But all this does not make us shut up, and on the contrary, giving up is generating that hatred that unites us to fight. Something that the retirees continue to teach us is not to resign ourselves and to confront this government.
This is how he expressed it Raul Godoy in his speech at the strike: “I have been the general secretary for many years when I was in the conflict in 2005 and being able to see again today all the unity that has been created between the different sectors of the hospital, it is truly wonderful, colleagues. Long live the unity of the workers for wages, for the defense of public health!”.
“This afternoon, the retirees are going to mobilize again. I think we all have to have empathy with those colleagues who are putting their faces and bodies on the line for all of us. We cannot allow such mistreatment of people who gave their lives working, who are paid 230 thousand pesos and bonuses, hunger bonuses. That is why the unity we are building is important.”.
The oil workers demonstrated this by going on strike for 7 days and managing to get a 1.5 million euro pay rise from the employers. The aeronautical workers carried out a strike and showed who the “forces of heaven” really are. The teachers of Neuquén, who have been on strike for 8 weeks, are also defending their wages and the right to strike.
While the CGT continues to negotiate how to move forward on labor rights, in Garrahan UPCN threatens to destroy jobs and cut wages with the labor reform that they themselves helped to approve. Together, with their Peronist deputies and the unions they lead, they are collaborating with the overall adjustment. This situation increased anger in the days before the strike and strengthened the measure.
As he highlighted Leo Améndola, delegate of the Internal Board of ATE Work: “The idea that they were giving was that nothing could be done. That this government had been voted for and that we have to put up with it until who knows when. So yesterday we said with great pride that today we were going to be in this 24-hour strike that you are doing. Because it shows that something different can be done and that this situation in which nothing can be opposed to Milei’s government is not natural, that was built, they were building it and we have to show them another perspective, that we can fight and win.”.
It is clear that the situation that Javier Milei’s government is leading to with its 0% deficit policies and its adjustments for hundreds of thousands of workers is leading many sectors to go out and organize to fight for decent wages, for health, free and quality education, and for the retirees who have spent their entire lives working, contributing to be able to live their old age with dignity.
The CGT and CTA trade unions must lead a national strike and a serious plan of struggle against the austerity measures that are destroying the lives of thousands.
From the Marrón Clasista Group and the Posta de Salud y Cuidado, we call to continue strengthening the measures of struggle, to not let ourselves be defeated by resignation, divisions, or the fear that the employers and the union bureaucracy of UPCN want to impose. With the unity of the health team, strengthening the organization, and assemblies like the one this Wednesday 11/09 at 1:30 p.m., we will continue to build the plan of struggle to achieve everything we set out to do.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
