Early on Thursday morning, Argentina’s Lower House approved a bill that would index public university workers’ salaries to inflation and increase institutions’ budgets every two months for the remainder of 2024. The opposition prevailed over President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza coalition, which is against the increases because they complicate the government’s zero fiscal deficit policy.
Public universities have been demanding appropriate funding and pay rises since President Javier Milei took office in December.
The National Inter-University Council (CIN, by its Spanish acronym) celebrated the approval of the bill and called for an urgent debate in the Senate. The council said that, if the bill becomes law, it would “provide predictability for the system and solve its problems.”
There needs to be “a strong university system at the service of the country, a budget to make it work,” and decent salaries and scholarships for university employees and students, CIN said.
If the bill passes, staff would receive a pay rise the month it enters into force, increasing their salaries in line with the inflation accumulated since December. Salaries would then rise in line with inflation each month until December 2024. These measures would apply to both academic and administrative staff.
The government would also have to increase universities’ 2024 operating cost budgets to account for 2023 inflation, and then adjust them in line with inflation for the rest of 2024.
Inflation in 2023 was 211%, the highest in three decades. However, Congress did not approve a new national budget for 2024. This means public universities, like other public institutions, started the year with the same budget they had at the start of 2023. The sector thus relied on increases given, at the government’s discretion, throughout the year to make up the shortfall.
“This bill establishes a minimum threshold for operational costs and salaries, which can’t be lower than inflation,” said Víctor Moriñigo, president of the CIN and rector of the National University of San Luis.
Finally, the bill would establish annual increases in the number of students that receive scholarships, as well as the amount of money they would receive.
Congress debate
The bill was approved by 143 deputies, while 77 voted against it and one abstained. Ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza and the right-wing PRO party, which typically backs the government in Congress, rejected the proposal. The vote took place at 7:35 a.m. on Thursday, 20 hours into a marathon session in which several other bills and issues were also debated.
The legal project, supported mainly by the center-right Unión Cívica Radical party, is frowned upon by the government because it goes against Milei’s goal of 0% deficit for 2024.
“We can’t allow a fantasy law to go against 0% deficit, because that is our tool to keep inflation at bay,” said LLA deputy José Luis Espert during the debate.
On Friday, the CIN described the university salary situation as “critical.” Between December and July, staff received a 71% raise, but inflation was over 120% during that period, the council said in a communiqué.
“This means that between November 2023 and July 2024, university workers’ salaries dropped by 45% in real terms, putting many workers below the poverty line,” they said. Half of public university staff are below the poverty line, they added.
In May, the government increased public universities’ operating costs budgets by 270%, but universities say operating costs account for just 10% of their total budgets. If the bill is approved, this raise will be taken into account. It followed extensive talks with the CIN and protests from public universities, including a massive march in April.
If the bill is approved, the government would have to pay at least another 80% increase in addition to the 270% to account for this year’s inflation, Moriñigo told the Herald.
On Monday, many public universities were scheduled to begin their second semester, but professors decided to carry out a 72-hour strike in protest over their salaries. In recent months, some universities have said they are paying staff in installments, or that they could not afford basic services. Some have said they are cutting down on cleaning and security services and even turning off lights in common areas to save electricity, as well as pausing construction work.