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Police officers in the cities of Caleta Olivia and Río Gallegos, in the southern province of Santa Cruz, have been on strike for over 24 hours. They are demanding a 25% salary increase.
Government Minister Gustavo Martínez indicated that only 250 police officers, out of a provincial total of 5,000, are striking. According to Martínez, the reasons for the protest “are not economic” and could arise from “difference with the leadership of the force, and an internal process against the representation achieved in [last year's] salary council.”
The minister indicated that during last year’s police strikes that spread throughout the country, his province was unaffected because the government “created a salary council, which allowed us to sit down [with the police officers] and discuss a kind of collective wage agreement.” Faced with this protest, said Martínez, the government “will be inflexible”. “We’re not negotiating now. We never negotiate under pressure,” he said.
Governor Daniel Peralta ordered the province’s Public Prosecutor to sue the protesters for “sedition”. He also requested support from the national government, which sent gendarmerie offices to the affected areas. Though Peralta’s government claims to have the conflict “under control”, there is concern it could spread to other parts of the province.
In that sense, Horacio Contreras, president of the Police Civil Association, said his organisation “does not support the measure that’s being carried out by this sector of the provincial police. The other 12 towns in the province are working normally, they did not join the strike and they will not do so.”
Contreras stated that “these issues should be discussed through the Salary Council and the Police Civil Association, which is the tool the government has given us to discuss a number of issues.”
In the first half of December 2013, police protests broke out throughout the country, leaving many areas unprotected as groups of people roamed the streets looting. Ten people died during the incidents.
The post Santa Cruz Police on Strike appeared first on The Argentina Independent.
