Meteorologists in Argentina warn lay-offs are affecting timely weather alerts

Workers at Argentina’s state meteorological service, embroiled in a dispute with the government over 140 lay-offs at the agency, warned Congress on Friday of safety risks linked to staffing cuts, including delays in issuing urgent weather alerts.

Employees and scientists at the National Meteorological Service (Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, SMN) are denouncing what they say is a “hollowing out” of the agency that jeopardises the supply of accurate climatological data needed to generate alerts.

“Critical messages have already disappeared from the Sistema de Alertas Tempranas [early warning system] … they are losing the ability to issue timely warnings,” Silvina Romano, an SMN worker and union representative, told a special Congress hearing.

The congressional audience comes amid ongoing protests by SMN workers since dismissals first began in mid-April, part of the austerity policies introduced by President Javier Milei’s government.

Opposition lawmakers are backing a bill that would declare an emergency at the SMN in order to compel the government to guarantee its operation.

When President Milei took office in December 2023, the institution employed more than 1,150 people. By early April 2026, staffing numbers had fallen to 972. During that period, the SMN suffered a 43 percent reduction in real terms in its budget, according to the ATE state workers’ union, which is critical of the administration.

With the latest 140 lay-offs, many of the 120 measurement stations spread across Argentina no longer have sufficient staff to operate them, workers say.

“That has led, for example, to provincial airports having to shut overnight or reschedule flights,” said Leandro Díaz, a researcher and member of the Centro Argentino de Meteorólogos (Argentine Meteorologists Centre).

Forecasts are also used in sectors such as disaster prevention, agriculture, maritime operations and energy.

The lack of data is also undermining the ability to establish historical series on which forecasts are based, according to Díaz.

Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger defended the staffing cuts as part of a push to “modernise” the system by replacing manual data collection with machines that automate the process.

The minister argued that the current model requires hiring more workers, whereas automation would cost “only a minimal fraction” of current spending.

Díaz, however, maintained that the existing method is not obsolete: “It is the way observations have historically been carried out, using the appropriate instruments and protocols established by the World Meteorological Organization.”

In just over two years, Milei’s government has dismissed more than 66,000 workers from national agencies and state-owned companies.

One of the sectors hardest hit by Milei’s “chainsaw” cuts has been universities and scientific research.

– TIMES/AFP