After the 24-hour strike by workers of the national airline until this Saturday noon to demand wage improvements, which affected some 37,000 passengers, the government of Javier Milei confirmed that it could not grant them a wage increase and its intention to privatize the airline company.
“The government’s position is to manage the company efficiently and not generate wage increases at the expense of the taxpayer” and “hence the government’s firmness in this wage negotiation,” said the Minister of Deregulation and Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, on Mitre radio.
The Minister confirmed that “the increase that the Government can grant is 0%”, because as long as the company does not make a profit (…), they cannot approach the taxpayer to ask for more resources.”
Aeronautics workers have been protesting since last August as they demand a wage adjustment in the face of a nearly 80% lag compared to inflation, which last month was 236.7% per year.
Aerolíneas Argentinas had reported that the strike this Friday and Saturday, led by the Secretary General of the Airline Pilots Association, Pablo Biró, and the Secretary General of the Argentine Aeronautics Association, Juan Pablo Brey, had an economic cost of 2.5 million dollars.
Sturzenegger linked the 24-hour strike to the alleged privileges of Aerolíneas Argentinas pilots, saying that “pilots who earn between 3 and 20 million pesos, in some cases making three flights a month, have a series of prerogatives, among which putting their entire family is ‘business’ and is part of the protest.”
Milei’s government confirmed that there would be fines and sanctions for employees who stopped working in the last 24 hours.
Sturzenegger added that the president signed an executive order on Friday declaring commercial aviation an “essential service” so that there would be a minimum service provision of 50% in the event of a strike.
The privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas was included in a bill presented by Milei, but Parliament did not allow it to advance in the process, which is why Sturzenegger considered it an “excellent moment” to promote the project recently proposed for this purpose by the Republican Proposition party (center-right), founded by former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
In the meantime, “We’re going to deal with this situation, but we’re not going to deal with it by allowing inefficiencies or privileges. “The exorbitant expenses incurred by Aerolíneas Argentinas employees will continue to be paid by taxpayers, as has been the case until now,” the minister said.
Aerolíneas Argentinas has announced that it plans to end 2024 with a payroll of nearly 10,400 employees, i.e. 13% less than at the end of 2023, after implementing a voluntary departure program and early retirement agreements; which reduced its operating deficit by more than 70% in the first half, to 79 million dollars, and which maintains the objective of reducing its annual deficit to half that of 2023.
