Sileoni: 'salary adjustments will not be higher than 25%'

Education Minister says teacher union negotiations will conclude this week

Education Minister Alberto Sileoni will try to resolve teacher salary adjustment negotiations this week, although he announced limits to what the government was willing to give teacher labour unions, assuring that the increases would not supercede 25 percent.

These statments were made with only a few days before classes officially begin on February 27. Sileoni made it clear that the national salary adjustment agreement is only “symbolic” since the nation is not directly in charge of any schools, but that they did serve as a reference point for the provinces.

“The national government does not provide the salaries of the 900,000 teachers, their salaries are decided and provided by each of the provinces,” he stated. The Education Minister remarked that the 30 percent increase being demanded by teacher unions was unrealistic.

In declarations made to the Salta Tribune, Sileoni said that “the point of national salary adjustment negotiations is to establish a minimum point,” that will establish a minimum starting salary for first year teachers. He explained that the provinces in general already have agreements that are above the current accords and that the point of the negotiations they are having is to go above it.

The Education Minister also stated that strikes and other measures being discussed by teacher labour unions were “natural tensions that are part of the democratic process.” Last Wednesday the minister had predicted that he believed it was possible for the negotiations to be resolved within a week. Sileoni had praised the great relations that exist between the government and the five separate teacher labour unions saying that they were in “good spirits.”

Sileoni also remarked he was optimistic that the negotiations would concluded by the end of this week which would “give the provinces enough time to complete their negotiations” before the beginning of the school year on February 27.

Herald with DyN