After six years without interruptions at the start of the school year, today the province of Buenos Aires faces a massive teachers' strike that left millions of students without classes. This is the first time under Kicillof's administration that something like this has happened at the beginning of the school year.

The strike was called by multiple educational unions—both in public and private schools—in opposition to a salary increase they consider insufficient. The Unified Teachers' Union (Suteba), which has historically been close to Kicillof, joined this time by participating in a national call from CTERA against Javier Milei's government. Also involved are FEB, UDOCBA, AMET, UDA, and SADOP.

What’s interesting is that Suteba emphasized that exercising the right to strike "is a higher right, not a work leave." María Laura Torre, the union spokesperson, said, "The strike is very well received across the country. There are marches in the provinces and in the city toward Congress."

Kicillof, who has always considered it an achievement to have the school year start on time and as scheduled, attributed this inability to the financial squeeze of the national government. The province claims it is owed 22.2 trillion pesos. Despite this, last week it distributed school furniture and uniforms.

It’s not just Buenos Aires. The teachers’ strike is replicated in 14 other provinces across the country. Sonia Alesso, Secretary General of CTERA, described it as: "We are at a very, very complex start to the year." She explained that the education sector has been requesting budget and educational investment throughout the previous year with constant actions and mobilizations.

The numbers are compelling. A teacher with two positions is losing more than 300,000 pesos per month, plus the accumulated debt since Milei’s government began, totaling nearly five million pesos. The decision for the national strike arose because the federal government did not call for wage negotiations, despite a court order requiring it to do so.

The day includes caravans, tents, and mobilizations across the country. In the capital, they called for a march that will gather at the Cabildo starting at 11:30 to head to the Congreso. A measure that marks the return of teacher conflict after years of relative calm at the start of the Buenos Aires school year.