FESITRAJU denounced a “salary confiscation” after court employees in Argentina’s Chaco Province had up to 200,000 pesos deducted for striking on 18 September. The Chaco Superior Court of Justice ordered the cuts, which employees saw on their payslips on 30 September. The institution’s rule is blunt: no service, no pay.
The court sets the price of a stoppage
Chaco Ahora and NEA HOY reported deductions of 120,000 to 200,000 pesos for one day, equivalent to about US$79 to US$131. The conversions use 1,523 pesos to the dollar, the 2 October close. El Destape put the maximum deduction at about US$131.
After the strike, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) ordered the cuts in Resolution 865/26. El Destape and NEA HOY said the court identified strikers using attendance records and office reports. Payslips listed the deductions under code 000257. The court said staff who provided no service that day had no claim to that day’s pay, calling deductions for days not worked the normal rule.
October pay may take another hit. A further strike day, 25 September, could be deducted then because of payroll timing, El Destape and NEA HOY reported. Neither the STJ nor unions have published how many workers lost pay or the total amount withheld.
A pay guarantee for the upper ranks
The dispute also centers on Bill 2141/26, which Governor Leandro Zdero sent to the provincial Chamber of Deputies. It would establish a pay guarantee, described as “intangibility,” for judges and senior court officials. According to Perfil, their pay would move toward the national average in four six-month stages—85%, 90%, 95% and 100%—with quarterly reviews afterward.
Unions say the arrangement breaks the percentage link in provincial Law 468-A, which ties court staff pay to judges’ salaries. They call the separation “desenganche,” or decoupling, and want the bill shelved. The STJ describes the bill as the executive’s response to a court ruling. Unions reject that explanation. They say an ad hoc tribunal of judges who would benefit endorsed the scheme, Chaco On Line reported.
Supporters say the bill would bring Chaco’s judicial pay closer to national levels. The unions argue that adding court secretaries, as the judges’ association backed, still rewards only selected ranks. They rejected that statement on 30 September, Noticias Argentinas reported. The unions also want Article 9 of Law 3424-A, which pegs judicial pay to the northeast regional average, applied to all court staff, not only judges.
Workers organize; the bill remains pending
The Intergremial Judicial, a front of court unions, held a walkout on 24 September and a full stoppage on 25 September. Its surveys put participation at 70% to 75%, Litigio reported. Unions called the deductions legally unfounded and said they planned legal action, Chaco Ahora reported. The source reports no mutual-aid effort or other community response; the collective action described is the unions’ walkout and stoppage.
Provincial Finance Minister Alejandro Abraam rejected the unions’ interpretation of decoupling. He said the law linking staff pay to judges’ salaries would remain in force, Perfil reported. Zdero sponsored the bill and, according to the reports reviewed, hasn’t commented. The reports said he won the province from the Peronists in 2023. No new stoppage had been announced in the coverage. Nor was there a scheduled legislative vote or cost estimate for Bill 2141/26. Workers face a bill under debate, deductions already imposed, and no published tally of how much the court took.