Workers from the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica demonstrated on July 28 outside Intecnus in Bariloche to demand the reinstatement of employees dismissed from the Centro Atómico Bariloche and to oppose cuts across the scientific system. The protest focused on 60 terminations within the CNEA, but participants separated that national figure from the local impact: one representative said the layoffs directly affect 20 families in the city.
National Deputy Adriana Serquis joined the gathering and criticized the lack of information about the agency's restructuring. She said even CNEA employees do not know the scope of the changes and linked the layoffs to a loss of strategic capabilities. She also reported that a bill introduced in Congress almost four weeks earlier was seeking endorsements and consideration by the Science and Technology and Budget committees.
The dispute extends beyond employment relationships that have already ended. Serquis warned that on July 31, 379 postdoctoral researchers at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas would lose the opportunity to continue in the science and technology sector. She added the uncertainty facing nearly 300 CNEA contract workers who do not know whether their contracts will be renewed at year-end. These are separate employment groups, and their figures must not be added together as if they formed a single round of completed layoffs.
The mobilization achieved a partial result: eight workers were reinstated. However, those employees and the remaining contract staff still face uncertainty about whether their positions will continue. Alhue Gavuzzo, a CONICET researcher and former Frente de Izquierda Senate candidate, attributed the reinstatements to workplace assemblies and collective action. She also placed the direct local impact at 20 Bariloche families.
Gavuzzo framed the dispute around the CNEA's strategic role, noting that the agency takes part in nuclear-reactor exports and nuclear-medicine work carried out at Intecnus. Her characterization of the policies as a surrender of sovereignty was a political position expressed during the demonstration. The verifiable labor facts are the layoffs, the partial reinstatements and a restructuring whose future scope had still not been clearly communicated to employees.
The conflict remains open on several fronts. Employees are seeking further reinstatements; the bill needs support before it can be considered; nearly 300 contract workers await year-end decisions; and 379 postdoctoral researchers face an immediate deadline over their continuity. Participants also announced a public demonstration for August 6, linked in part to opposition to changes in the Ley de Tierras. None of these developments amounts to the closure of the CNEA: the central issue is the reduction of jobs and capabilities within the scientific system.
