Buenos Aires Herald 
At least part of the protracted Aerolíneas Argentinas conflict came to an end on Thursday after it announced that several aeronautical unions accepted company management’s 16% salary increase offer. The country’s flagship carrier also reported a series of sweeping changes to employment agreements and benefits following days of negotiations.
The company issued a communiqué stating that the parties had made “progress that will improve company productivity and limit benefits that were outside industry standards.” This referred to a series of employee benefits the government cited as a point of contention when publicly discussing the administration of the flagship carrier.
Pilots and crew members agreed to replace commuting via private cars with a travel stipend that will be implemented once the high summer season is over. From now on, union members and retired pilots will not be given business class tickets for themselves and their families. Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni described the changes as “ending the privileges of the aeronautical caste.”
The announcement was signed by union leaders from the Aeronautical Staff Association (APA, by its Spanish initials), the Airline Pilots Association (APLA), and the Crewmembers Argentine Association (AAA) on Tuesday. The intense negotiations went on until early Wednesday, and the closed agreement was announced on Thursday afternoon.
The approved negotiations did not involve the privatization or closure of Aerolíneas Argentinas, which President Javier Milei has attempted to do several times since taking office last December. In response, workers have carried out over a dozen strikes and demanded higher salaries after months of frozen wages.
Tension reached boiling point last week when public company Intercargo — which provides ramp operation services for most airlines in Argentina — carried out a surprise six-hour-long strike to protest an “arbitrary layoff.” The government ended up firing 15 Intercargo workers and filed a criminal complaint, and Milei warned that Intercargo would cease to exist.
Prior to the agreement reached between both parties, President Javier Milei was categorical about the situation of Aerolíneas Argentinas and stated: “This company should no longer be in the hands of the state”.
Regarding the position of the unionists in the conflict, Milei denounced that “the other side of this are the privileges that the airline workers have” who “pretend that the poorest 98% of the population pays for them”. “Either they put an end to their privileges so that the company can be cleaned up and sold. This company is no longer in the hands of the State”, concluded the President.
November staggered strike
Meanwhile, a union that groups air controllers and is not part of these negotiations announced a round of staggered strikes to be carried out throughout November. ATEPSA’s strikes will affect:
- International flights on Saturday, November 16, from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- General aviation flights (private or recreational) and those from non-scheduled airlines on Monday, November 18, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- All flights on Wednesday, November 20, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
- All flights on Friday, November 22, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
You may also be interested in: An end to airport strikes? Unions and Aerolíneas Argentinas reach ‘preliminary’ agreement
Originally published on Ambito.com, translated and adapted for the Herald
