Teachers march in Tucumán, rejecting an offer of a staggered pay rise (photo: Julio Pantoja/Télam/ef)
Teachers’ Strike Delays Start of School Year:Teachers in 19 provinces across Argentina began a strike of at least 48 hours yesterday after failing to agree on wage increases for this year. After more rounds of negotiations over the holiday weekend, the five main teachers’ unions rejected a revised offer from the national government of a 31% salary hike spread over the coming 16 months, plus additional payments based on attendance. The leader of the Argentine Confederation of Educational Workers (Ctera), Stella Maldonado, called the offer “insufficient”, and confirmed the strike would go ahead, despite the government calling for a mandatory conciliation. “We expect the strike will be adhered to fully, even in the five provinces that have reached an agreement,” said Maldonado. Negotiations over teachers’ wages at the national level are designed to set a standard minimum level that each province must respect when reaching an agreement within their jurisdiction.
Femicide Report: One Woman Killed Every 30 Hours: According to a report published today by Casa del Encuentro, 295 women were killed in gender violence attacks during 2013, averaging one death every 30 hours, the highest rate in the last six years. Of the total, 83 women were shot dead, 64 stabbed to death, 37 beaten to death, and 28 died after being strangled. In 38% of the cases, the killers were husbands, boyfriends, partners or lovers of the victim. The majority of the women were aged between 19 and 30 at the time of their death, although a large number were also aged between 31 and 50. The crimes mostly took place in the victim’s home, or the home she shared with the killer. In 46 cases, the woman had already reported gender violence at the hands of her eventual murderer. Of the total, 11 women were pregnant at the time of their deaths, and a further 27 were sexually abused before being killed. As a result of the killings, some 400 children were left without a mother.
1765 Shipwreck Found in Tierra del Fuego: A group of researchers has found the remains of ‘La Purísima Concepción’, a Spanish ship that sank in 1765, on the shores of the island. The expedition, which was searching the Mitre Peninsula on horseback, found fragments of wood, metal, ceramics and glass, as well as the ship’s cannon balls, according to Dolores Elkin, the head of the Subaquatic Archeology Programme from the National Institute of Latin American Anthropology and Thought. Purísima Concepción left Cádiz port in 1764 with 193 people on board, and after sinking in the region of Caleta Falsa in January 1765, the crew stayed on Tierra del Fuego for three months, living alongside the indigenous population. The sailors managed to build another ship with parts of their sunken vessel, and sailed on to safety before winter arrived. The archeologists found the remains of a further 12 shipwrecks and some 400 archeological sites linked to the native populations of the island. They were revising 200km of Tierra del Fuego’s coastline, from south of the city of Río Grande to San Diego Cape.