Reinstate the 291 laid-off workers? Seriously?
Salto Broad Front issued a strongly worded statement condemning the dismissal of 291 municipal officials by the departmental government. The political party demands their immediate reinstatement and announces a meeting with the Departmental Council, in what it considers an unprecedented institutional abuse.
Mayor Carlos Albisu's decision to dismiss these officials was not capricious. It was an announced measure, substantiated and supported by solid legal arguments. These were direct appointments made by the previous administration, many of them in the final days of its administration, without competition, without transparency, and in some cases, without even assigned tasks.
But of course, now the Salto Broad Front is tearing its clothes. They're talking about abuse, injustice, and violations of rights. And what about taxpayers' rights? And respect for the law? And the institutional order that's so often demanded when you're in the opposition?
The cost of improvisation
Maintaining those 291 employees cost the Municipality about 20 million pesos per month. That's equivalent to 6 million dollars a year. Can such a burden really be sustained without affecting essential services, without compromising the functioning of the municipality?
The current administration took over a debt-ridden City Hall, with dilapidated machinery, closed museums, and unpaid suppliers. But that doesn't seem to matter. What matters is that the "comrades" return to their posts, even if there's no budget, no tasks, and no legal framework to back it up.
Political leaders or civil servants?
Albisu was clear: many of those dismissed were political figures who never fulfilled any real functions. Is that what they want to reinstate? A parallel militant structure financed with public funds?
The Broad Front demands reinstatements without nuances, without filters, without review. Where is the functional career? Where is the merit? Where is the respect for the true municipal workers who did compete, who do their jobs, who do sustain the Mayor's Office day after day?
Call to the floor: political show or solution?
The Broad Front councilors' bloc announced a summons to the mayor's office. Why? To demand explanations that were already given at a press conference? To put on a political show that distracts from the essentials?
Because the essential thing here isn't number 291. The essential thing is legality, transparency, and respect for public funds. The essential thing is that governments can no longer use the administration as political spoils , filling offices with activists without functions.
What management model does the Salto Broad Front defend?
The demand to reinstate 291 officials without review reveals a management model that prioritizes party loyalty over public efficiency. Is this the model the Salto Broad Front wants to reinstate? A mayor's office converted into a political employment agency, where positions are handed out like campaign prizes?
While the current government is trying to put its finances in order, restore machinery, pay debts, and reopen services, the opposition is demanding a return to chaos. There are no proposals for improvement, no relocation alternatives, and no technical defense of the ties. Only political pressure and high-sounding declarations.
And now what?
The Broad Front can continue issuing statements, calling for public hearings, and denouncing abuses. But if there's no willingness to review the relationships on a case-by-case basis, if there's no self-criticism about how public employment was managed, if there's no respect for the law, then there's no defense of rights: there's a defense of privileges.
And you, as a reader, as a citizen, as a taxpayer, have the right to ask yourself: Who is truly defending the public interest in Salto: the one who orders or the one who demands reinstatement without review?
