Argentina: Transport union suspends nationwide bus strike

Argentina's national transport workers' union, UTA, has called off a planned nationwide strike that was set to begin on Friday, August 14. The union had announced the work stoppage to protest significant salary differences between bus drivers in the country's interior regions and their counterparts in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA).

Sources within the union confirmed the suspension of the protest, which would have affected services starting at midnight. While the strike was intended for the entire country, only Córdoba and Tucumán had initially confirmed their adherence, with other regional branches expected to decide later.

The Ministry of Capital Humano announced that UTA and the Argentine Federation of Passenger Transport (FATAP) have agreed to continue negotiations to reach a salary agreement. FATAP has reportedly committed to urging provincial and municipal governments to make greater efforts to provide a response to the union's demands next week.

UTA had previously declared the situation "unsustainable," stating they would not accept indefinite subordination of workers' salaries to any circumstance. The core of the dispute lies in the homologation of salaries for drivers in the interior to match those agreed upon for AMBA drivers in late July. Those agreements established a minimum salary of over 1.6 million Argentine pesos for July, with further increases planned for August and September.

FATAP representatives have cited the absence of provincial and municipal governments in salary discussions as a barrier to reaching an agreement, stating they cannot afford to meet the demands without necessary funding. A new hearing is scheduled for August 20.

“

No vamos a aceptar que el salario de los trabajadores quede subordinado indefinidamente a cualquier circunstancia