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In a context of worrying numbers of infections and deaths from covid-19, the situation is complicated for thousands of workers who are infected or are in close contact and must face the arrogance of employers and managers who, taking advantage of the decreed flexibilities by the national government in terms of isolation and licences, they are pressing so that “production” does not stop at all costs.
That situation is clearly seen in factories and private companies across the country. La Izquierda Diario has been giving an account of this through multiple complaints that reach the newsroom every day. But public dependencies are no exception.
A strong complaint reached this newspaper in the last few hours from workers of La Plata, dependent on the Provincial Agency for Children and Adolescents of the Ministry of Community Development. Although in this case they report what is happening in the Villa Nueva Esperanza Complex in the town of Abasto (located at 520 and 226), they assure that the situation is similar to that of other Buenos Aires dependencies.
It is worth saying that almost half of the young people prosecuted in the entire province are housed in the Abasto complex, which demonstrates its importance. The closed institutes El Castillito, Almafuerte, Gregorio Aráoz Alfaro I, Carlos Ibarra, Pellegrini, COPA, Eva Perón and Legarra (all eight for people over 16 years of age) operate there. In addition, two youth reception centers are used, the Abasto and the Eva Perón, and the Agustín Gambier Containment Center (open to children under 16 years of age, although it operates within the fenced-in property and guarded by the Police).
According to the complaint received, in recent weeks dozens of assistants for minors and administrative staff of the institutes have suffered innumerable obstacles to obtain medical licenses for cases of covid-19 and are even harassed by their bosses, who pressure them to do not leave their posts or, after completing the legal isolation, return as soon as possible regardless of their state of health.
Alberto, Ana and Alejandra work in three of the institutes of the Villa Nueva Esperanza Complex. The first definition in which they agree is that in their places of work for a long time "you can see the disgrace and lack of humanity of the authorities towards colleagues who are covid-positive or have close contacts." Something that, they say, has been going on since long before the official isolation guidelines changed.
The attitude of the government of Axel Kicillof and his Minister of Community Development Andrés “el Cuervo” Larroque towards the staff translates into administrative and labor complications for those suffering from the coronavirus, despite be in almost all cases with complete vaccination schemes.
Those who work in the complex face, on the one hand, the demands of the Buenos Aires Government Personnel Directorate, some contradictory and others impossible to comply with; and on the other hand they face the squeeze and mistreatment of directors and bosses.
“Denied”
One of the most widespread problems is the daunting task of obtaining a medical file if you contracted covid-19 or if, due to being in close contact and having symptoms, a period of isolation is needed.
When someone has symptoms or knows that they are in close contact with someone who has coronavirus, they must enter Siape (the portal of the Personnel Directorate that the management of the Frente de Todos calls "human capital"). There, with a personal password, each employee or employee processes, among other things, medical licenses.
The first thing Siape asks of anyone who wants to apply for a license is to upload a certificate from SISA, the Argentine Integrated Health Information System of the national Ministry of Health. At this point, Ana says that “SISA takes a long time to send you that certificate, when you are lucky enough to receive it (because there are people who never receive it even if they claim it by mail). And not having that certificate they deny you the folder. Even having the verification of the Mi Argentina application that you are covid positive. This is how the days go by, you finish the period of isolation and you never get the medical license.”
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In the case of licenses due to covid-19, Siape requests that the data of a medical certificate confirming the contagion be uploaded. But in most cases, this certificate does not exist, since in the public health posts where people go to get swabbed, no certificate is issued.
Alberto says that, when they saw that this obstacle was repeated in several cases, they began to find out how to solve it everywhere. “In the end we managed to find out that, if you do not have a certificate, in the box where the signatory doctor's license plate should go, you can put the code 653665 and it will enable you. But it is a code that seems secret, no partner knows it.
The worker adds: “Anyway, if you managed to do it, they immediately ask you to upload the photo of the certificate that you don't have. And it has to be a photo, it cannot be a pdf or any other type of document. In addition, it is impossible to do all the paperwork by cell phone, yes or yes you have to do it from a computer. If you are not practical in the digital subject, they are all complications ”.
On this point, Alejandra says that whoever gets tested in the places provided by the State, “the only thing they can do is take a photo of the piece of paper they are given where it says 'positive' and upload it to Siape. But today there are many people who have symptoms or are in close contact and are directly told to isolate themselves without swabbing. There you do not even have the paper of the swab to present ”.
“There are colleagues who sent the certificates that the Mi Argentina application gives them, where they appear as covid-positive, but they continue to ask them for the SISA certificate and end up with the license denied. Then the managers tell them not to go to work and that later, when they get the certificate, they send it to Personnel and a file is opened there via Gdeba (Buenos Aires Electronic Document Management portal, NdR). In the end, what should be something automatic turns into complications for people who are having a hard time”, says Alejandra indignantly.
Ana adds that in the last few days they were informed “that if you don't get the medical file on time and in the proper form, when you finally get the certificates, send everything to the Personnel Department so that a file can be started via the Gdeba. That adds more angst. People are not lying, they are having a hard time, they should have an automatic license”.
Attack on salary
Not getting the medical license on time implies in many cases losing part of the salary due to “absenteeism”. In other words, there are workers and workers who are not only having a hard time with their health but, by not having a legal certification to obtain the folder, they end up suffering a new attack on their pockets.
Alberto says that “in the case of close contacts, if you say you are a relative of someone with covid positive you have to send something that certifies the link, such as a birth certificate or a marriage book. On top of that people are with their sick family they force them to do that process. And as if that were not enough, they ask you to send a note by hand, in your own handwriting, asking that the days of absence be recognized. The same State that tells you to isolate yourself demands that you ask it not to cut your salary for missing your post.
The picture becomes more complicated if one takes into account the employment situation of those who work in the institutes for minors in Buenos Aires. Alberto says that “there are compañeras and compañeros who work 24-hour guard duty at one institute and the next day they go to work overtime at another to make ends meet. They spend three or four days in a row inside the institutes. Under these conditions, a lot of them were infected. There are entire guards infected. And unfortunately, many need the money and are forced to go the same way, because they know everything that is coming to them if they lack it. If they have a cough or any other symptom, they hide it and go to work the same way”, he graphs.
The anger accumulates
In addition to the bureaucratic complications to obtain medical licenses, those who are affected by covid-19 also suffer from the indifference and arrogance of their managers. On the one hand, they do not look for a way to solve the problems of the medical folders. On the other hand, they carry out a true squeeze campaign so that as few staff as possible are absent.
A colleague of Ana's “was given seven days of leave, but she never received a medical follow-up. She took a test in a private laboratory and managed to get the SISA to send her the certificate, but the seven days passed and she continued to feel very bad, without strength and with a headache. The bosses began to rush her, telling her that she had to go back to work no matter what. He had to request a separate shift for a clinical doctor so he could verify his condition. On top of that, it was difficult for her to get that shift because they told her that until she was discharged from covid they could not attend her ”.
Alejandra adds what she has been seeing. “There are colleagues and colleagues who continue to have a hard time even after the days of isolation. It is true that there are those who go through it without complications, but there are many people who suffer a lot, even having two or three doses of the vaccine. And there is no medical follow-up from the authorities. Not to mention some kind of psychological containment. People are left adrift, added to the concern that their leave days will not be recognized. It's all very distressing."
For his part, Alberto recalls that “before you could manage the covid license through the ART. Not now, except in the case of health personnel. But the minors' assistants were always essential personnel, they never stopped working, they never stopped caring for the kids. However, they were never considered, neither for vaccination nor for anything else. They did not even collect the bonus, as it did happen in other ministries. The attendees were working throughout the pandemic and many have been infected in the same institutes ”.
In these working conditions, pressure from bosses generates fear. “One of the colleagues recently started working in a permanent plant, until then she was a monotributista and invoiced, as happens to many. She and her colleagues who are in the same situation live in fear of speaking up or standing up to managers, which is justified. Here the Police even came to check the trunks of the cars to enter and leave the complex ”, denounces Ana.
Alejandra closes with a forceful definition. “Managers wash their hands, only if you have a lot of seniority and they have known you for years and they will tell you ‘take the days you need and we will pass on the present to you. But many are from the new management, young people who are no more than six or seven years old and who, in order not to go against those at the top, do everything they are ordered to do. These are people who don't risk it for anything”.
The names of the workers and the worker who testified were changed to preserve their labor integrity
If you are from La Plata, Berisso and Ensenada: Get in touch and organize with the PTS in the Left Front or with Pan y Rosas in your work, place of study or neighborhood.
ContactCovid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Andrés "Cuervo" Larroque AbastoSocial Development Institute for Minors State Workers Axel KicillofProvince of Buenos Aires La Plata, Berisso and Ensenada Health World of [email protected] [email protected]