“Nationalization of transport under workers’ control is the only way out to avoid negotiations and rate hikes”

This morning a meeting was held at the Deliberative Council of San Salvador de Jujuy, in which councilors and Mayor “Chuli” Jorge received national parliamentarians from Jujuy; Manuel Quintar from La Libertad Avanza, Natalia Sarapura from Cambia Jujuy (UCR), Carolina Moises from Union for the Fatherland (PJ) and Alejandro Vilca from the Left Front Unity (PTS).

National deputy Alejandro Vilca outlined the left’s position: “We reject the national government’s cuts. The adjustment they are pushing for does not affect the deputies, the governor, the caste as they said, but rather the workers who have to take a bus every day to travel. This policy pushes more and more workers into poverty.”

“The traditional parties of the UCR and the PJ complain about the cut in subsidies, but they were the ones who enabled the national government to make the adjustment, allowing Decree 70/2023 to be passed, voting for the Ley Bases, signing the May pact or the RIGI in the case of Moises. They defend the subsidies, but their interest is to continue fattening the pockets of parasitic transport businessmen,” he added.

“It is necessary to know what they have done with this money so far, for companies to open their accounts and give explanations on how they spent the people’s money. We support any request for information so that the national government can give explanations on the cuts it made and we propose a national public hearing on passenger transport that is open to workers, passengers, professionals and consumer protection organizations,” he said.

For her part, Councillor Keila Zequeiros stated that “transport companies constantly threaten to remove the BEGU, they put emphasis on free passage for the disabled, but the truth is that 85% of the vehicle fleet of transport companies was paid for by national subsidies.”

“There is a superior proposal to resolve the public transport crisis by removing corporate profits from the equation: it is possible to nationalize the system under the control of workers and users, the only ones interested in providing an efficient, quality service at a popular price,” said the PTS-FITU councilor in conclusion.