ATE General Secretary Rodolfo Aguiar pointed out that the salary increases proposed by the country’s leadership for this month (3.5 percent) and August (3 percent) are insufficient, and asserted that “a cut of the current magnitude in the workers’ income is unprecedented in recent decades.”

“It is a huge adjustment. The offers do not even reach the official inflation levels. It is clear that we face a deliberate plan to destroy the salaries and living conditions of all public employees,” added Aguiar, who criticized the offer made by the government of Javier Milei to deliver a bonus of 60,000 Argentine pesos (around 60 dollars) and explained that this amount is not even enough to pay for electricity service in homes.

According to a report from the internal ATE board at the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, a typical family needs 1,362,029 pesos (1,414 dollars) in order not to be poor, a figure much higher than the average income of state employees.

The union also indicated that since Milei came to power, the purchasing power loss in the public sector has exceeded 26 percent.

“The Government reduces the staffing in the State not only through illegal layoffs every three months, but also by paying starvation wages. In recent months, a large number of professionals have decided to leave the administration to provide services in the private sector and even leave the country,” Aguiar stated.

“They are wrong if they believe that by sowing terror with layoffs we will stop defending our salaries. We declared the state of assembly and we have to think about taken direct actions. We must quickly resume our union action plan,” the leader added.

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