The Hidden Stories Behind the Oil Union Conflict: Javier Milei, Ignacio Torres, Marcelo Rucci, and Jorge Avila

2024-02-27 04:51:00
Javier Milei, Ignacio Torres, Marcelo Rucci and Jorge Avila

What is hidden behind the strong differences between the oil unions in the face of the conflict between President Javier Milei and the governor of Chubut, Ignacio Torres? There are personal, political and union stories that divide Marcelo Rucci, leader of the Oil Union of Neuquén, Río Negro and La Pampa, and Jorge Avila, head of the Private Oil Union of Chubut, which explain their different positions, although in their environments They agree that they will end up sharing the same decisions to avoid exposing themselves to what they call “a dead end.”

Until now, Rucci has differentiated himself from his colleagues in the activity by ensuring that he does not support Governor Torres’ threat to paralyze hydrocarbon production in the region if the national government does not resolve the dispute over the co-shareable funds claimed by the province. “We are not unaware of the legitimacy of the claim, but it is a conflict that must be resolved through the corresponding channels, whether through politics or directly in Justice,” Rucci told the specialized media EconoJournal.

Avila, a political ally of Torres (he came to his seat as a national deputy as the first candidate of the alliance led by the current provincial president), led an event last Friday in defense of the hydrocarbon industry and work in the San Jorge Gulf basin. and that was where the governor warned that Chubut will not deliver oil and gas if the Ministry of Economy does not release the resources that, according to him, are illegally retained. “When they say that they are going to take the royalties from the province of Chubut to punish it, that is where we have to say enough, confront them and say: are we going to let them take our ticket, that the teachers or ATE employees do not get paid? , that they privatize Banco Nación or that YPF leaves? Are we going to leave all that or are we going to go out and fight? That is the slogan, go out and find how we are going to defend this city,” said the leader.

Ignacio Torres and Jorge Avila, together at a campaign event

The political harmony between Torres and Avila is not the same as what they had when they forged their electoral agreement, but until now they have shown themselves to be on the same side. In Chubut unionism, however, there are those who slip that the deputy and union member would not agree to an extreme measure like the one proposed by the governor. “He is going to distance himself,” they anticipate.

Even so, as anticipated by the newspaper La Opinión Austral, this Tuesday a decisive meeting would take place in which the oil companies would confirm whether they increase their investment plans or maintain the one presented on February 2 and which stipulates a reduction of 284 million dollars between 2024 and 2023, which might end in layoff telegrams. Avila is still the head of the union, in addition to occupying a national deputy seat, and it will be necessary to see if he toughens up or leaves the door open.

Avila established himself as the strong man of the Chubut Private Oil and Gas Union in 2012, sponsored by Guillermo Pereyra, the old reference of the oil workers and who was once the central articulator of the sector’s unions in Patagonia. At the end of November 2022, he achieved his re-election with 7,179 votes (81% of the membership register) and his third term began.

Marcelo Rucci, the powerful oil unionist who succeeded Guillermo Pereyra

Known as “Loma”, Avila is a man with a combative profile and every measure of force he launched at the front of his union was felt in a matter of hours due to shortages. His style led him to break with the Argentine Petroleum Union Federation, which he criticized for its shortcomings in social work, something that prompted him to have his own medical provider.

A tough and skilled negotiator, Avila demonstrated his pragmatism at the beginning of Mauricio Macri’s government. At the beginning of 2016, in the midst of an economic decline in the sector, he accepted a “0% parity” in order to maintain jobs. He also negotiated reductions in the application of Income Tax on additional items, such as travel expenses, meals and overtime. In 2017 he endorsed an addendum to the collective agreements that was very well received by the ruling party and by businessmen in the sector, although it generated some internal noise and protests from members. In order to sustain jobs, badly hit in a province in turmoil, he agreed to increase the rates of exploitation and modify working hours. The goal was to increase productivity and efficiency.

Avila is aligned with Chubut Peronism and was shown in photos with Alberto Fernández when he was President and did not hide the images and meetings with former governor Mariano Arcioni, close to Sergio Massa, on the union’s website. However, dissatisfied with the way in which unionism was marginalized from the electoral lists, Avila ended up surprisingly closing a political agreement with a PRO leader like Torres, who thus added his “Peronist leg” to strengthen an electoral alliance that surpassed Together for the Change that will remove the ruling party from power.

The governor of Santa Cruz, Claudio Vidal, was the leader of the Oil Tankers Union of the province

Rucci, on the other hand, maintains ties with the Neuquén Popular Movement (MPN): in itself, he took over as head of the powerful oil union of Neuquén, Río Negro and La Pampa, replacing Guillermo Pereyra, the historic leader of that organization that remained in his position for 37 years and became a national senator for the MPN. In practice, Rucci had been driving since the beginning of the pandemic because Pereyra had to confine himself to his farm in Neuquén for health reasons.

Pereyra’s successor, until then administrative secretary of the union, has a more intransigent profile, with a lot of territorial work in the north and center of Neuquén. In 2011, Rucci was elected mayor of Rincón de los Sauces, a city of regarding 20,000 inhabitants, as a candidate for the Neuquén Popular Movement. He was re-elected in 2015 and in 2019 he resigned his continuity so that the Secretary of Government of the Municipality, Norma Sepúlveda, might run, who won the elections.

After having gained influence in the union’s board of directors and establishing himself as Pereyra’s dolphin (reluctantly accepted by him), Rucci comfortably won the union elections, held in October 2021: he obtained 86% of the votes and surpassed the opposition candidate Walter Zozaya, who obtained just 12% of the votes. Pereyra moved away, but not that much: he was re-elected as president of social work and at the head of the Mutual de Petroleros Privados (MEOPP), a key structure due to the political and business contacts it allows and the enormous “cash” it manages. .

Another key character in this scenario is Claudio Vidal, governor of Santa Cruz, who led the Santa Cruz Oil Tankers Union until December 10. Although he left the position to Rafael Guenchenen, in the union ranks the predicament that he maintains in the union is taken for granted. Will it be decisive for him to support Governor Torres’ position? This Tuesday, at least, Vidal will appear with his colleague from Chubut and other Patagonian leaders in the Senate of the Nation to adopt a common position in the face of the controversy unleashed with the Milei government. This consensual position is what, so far, the oil unions have not been able to have following the political bomb that the president of Chubut detonated and that keeps everyone in suspense.

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