The Government reaffirmed this Thursday that the “management” of social plans is in the hands of the State through the Ministry of Social Development and ensured that the portfolio headed by John Zabaleta points to “municipal and provincial governments having a more active role” in the implementation of the program Boost Work.
The debate on a better administration of state aid to the most vulnerable sectors, in which the vice-president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner During an act of the CTA for Flag Day, he showed an emphatic position on Thursday by the Casa Rosada, which made it clear that the administration, planning and design of social plans go through the Executive.
Cerruti’s allusion to changes in the form of “channel“Social aid occurs in a context in which some mayors, especially from Buenos Aires, came out to ask for greater participation from their municipalities in managing the plans.
Do you want to know more about the social policies carried out by the National Government to support families in vulnerable situations and accompany a transition to employment? The Presidential Spokesperson @gabicerru explained it in the #Press conference. pic.twitter.com/n6gk7L5ICn
– Gabriela Cerruti (@Portavoz_Ar) June 23, 2022
The claim of the mayors was on Wednesday in the voice of the Buenos Aires Chief of Staff, Martin Insaurraldewho assured that the idea of ”the decentralization of the control of social plans in the municipalities is” unanimous “among the communal heads“.
However, the mayor of Lomas de Zamora in use of license also understood that “The time has come to debate the universal wage”within the framework of the substantive debate proposed by Cristina Fernández, last Monday in the plenary of the CTA, where she demanded that “the application of social policies should not continue to be outsourced” and that the national State once again have “control, the audit, and enforcement” of that system.
The request of the mayors was translated in part in the project to convert social plans into genuine work that the community chief of the Buenos Aires municipality of Pehuajó, Pablo Zurro approached Cristina Fernández yesterday to his office in the Senate.
With Pablo Zurro, Mayor of Pehuajó, who approached me with a proposal to transform the social plans that exist in that city into work. He told me that he also sent it to the Nation’s Minister of Social Development. pic.twitter.com/2IByOYqlgr
– Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) June 22, 2022
The proposal that, according to the mayor himself, he also presented to Minister Zabaleta, aims to that the beneficiaries of the Work Promotion have 20 hours a week of work in their neighborhoods (composed of four hours a day), in exchange for a monthly bonus that will be paid for with the municipal coffers and health coverage through the social work of the Province of Buenos Aires (IOMA), meanwhile, the mayor would be in charge of the assignment of tasks and of controlling the registrations and cancellations of the agreement.
In his usual Thursday press conference at Casa RosadaCerruti alluded to information published this Thursday by the newspaper Clarín which, with this debate in the ruling party as a backdrop, stated that “the government takes 180,000 social plans from the picketers and transfers them to the mayors and governors.” .
In this regard, the spokeswoman indicated that the information contained in that morning “was not correct” and specified that “the 180 thousand plans that came out today (for Thursday) on the cover of some newspapers are those that were recorded after the opening of a registry of the Ministry of Social Developmentl” that was opened “almost a year ago” so that the beneficiaries can “receive the Empower Work in another way”.
“Minister Zabaleta has been working so that those who are at the head of that plan can move on to formal work. This implies agreements with companies, unions, with automakers.Gabriela Ceruti
He clarified that “some will be through municipalities, others will be individually, others from cooperatives,” and he said that this was enabled by virtue of the fact that “there were complaints” about irregularities in the management of these plans.
“All this is being worked on and studied by the minister (Juan Zabaleta),” Cerruti completed, later recalling that “the largest social policies are universal” and cited the Universal Child Allowance (AUH), the Food Plan and the Progress Plan .
“Minister Zabaleta has been working so that those who are the head of that plan can move on to formal work. This implies agreements with companies, unions, with automakers. There is a women’s cooperative in Flores, which produces flavorings and signed an agreement with Toyota to purchase these products,” Cerruti said as an example.
Debate is always welcome to improve the living conditions of Argentine men and women who need the accompaniment of the State.
We are traveling the path of converting social plans into formal employment, and we work on that every day.
? @radiolared pic.twitter.com/Dq874C5mQB
– Juan Zabaleta (@JuanZabaletaOK) June 23, 2022
Zabaleta, meanwhile, stated this morning that from the national government they point to “the municipal and provincial governments having a more active role” in the implementation of the Empower Work program and maintained that from his portfolio he works “every day” in ” how to improve social programs”.
The Minister of Social Development also reaffirmed the Executive’s decision “not to enable more registrations under the Enhance Work plan,” something that, he said, he conveyed at the meeting he held yesterday at the Ministry’s headquarters with representatives of the Piquetera Unit (UP).
Instead, “The idea is to invest resources in productive units linked to the generation of employment“, specified the minister in statements made to the radio station La Red, where he highlighted the importance of “continuing to deepen” the link “with each beneficiary” of social programs.
In relation to the debate raised in the Frente de Todos after the concepts formulated by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner last Monday, the minister assessed that discussions to improve “the living conditions of Argentines are always welcome” and clarified that the focus of the Executive is placed on the generation of formal work.
“We have to go to the path of formal employment and build alternatives for the 1,200,000 beneficiaries of the Work Promotion Plan who, ultimately, are the true victims of the economic situation and have to be accompanied” by the State, he remarked.
A few days ago, a complaint was made against organizations of the Piquetera Unit for allegedly charging beneficiaries a percentage of that social plan.
In this context, a growing migration of a significant number of beneficiaries of social programs who seek to “change the executing unit”, to move from the UP to municipal spheres, emerged.
Zabaleta argued that we must take advantage of the public debate to “ask the municipal governments and mayors” that they communicate to the beneficiaries so that they know and so that they can choose where they want to work and that they cannot be held hostage by anyone“.
In this framework, he recalled that there is “an open channel for complaints in the Ministry.”
“When we talk about those beneficiaries who asked to change the management unit, seven thousand complaints of irregularities appeared. There is the Ministry working with social organizations, municipalities and unions so that this does not happen,” he added.
On this point, Cerruti also spoke this Thursday, who evaluated that Cristina Kirchner’s considerations on the control of social programs with the purpose of avoiding “outsourcing” do not imply “an antagonistic position” to the policies that are applied from the Government national.
“There are no antagonistic positions on social policies. Social policies were developed during her presidency. The vice president would never speak against social organizations. What she said is something specific, which is her view of something that is already happening: there are specific complaints about the plans that are served“, he indicated.
Next, the spokeswoman stressed that “we all recognize the work of social organizations, they are essential for community organization and the popular economy” and analyzed that “going from one or two generations of unemployment and poverty to formal labor it goes from day to night. We all work and think the same.”
“It’s something that takes time. A cultural reintegration into the world of work is needed and it cannot be done overnight. An eight-hour job could not arise that way. All this process is being developed and accompanied by the State “, Cerruti concluded.
