In Argentina, a general strike has paralyzed parts of public life. According to unions, more than a million people stopped working in protest against the government’s neoliberal reform plans.
In Argentina, hundreds of thousands of people responded to a call for a general strike. According to trade unions, more than a million people stopped work to protest against the drastic austerity policies of President Javier Milei’s ultra-liberal government. The central union CGT spoke of 1.5 million striking workers – around a tenth of the officially employed population.
The CGT, with around seven million members, called for the strike, and smaller unions and civil society groups joined. According to the police, 80,000 people took part in the central event in the capital Buenos Aires. The unions spoke of significantly more participants.
The strike paralyzed parts of public life in the South American country. While airlines canceled almost all flights, much of the transport sector went on strike from early evening. Many factories in which a particularly large proportion of the workforce is unionized stopped production during the day.
Numerous Changes in the law planned
Milei is faced with a general strike just a month and a half after taking office in mid-December. CGT Secretary General Pablo Moyano threatened the government with harsh words. If Economy Minister Luis Caputo continues with the reforms, “the workers will carry him on a sedan chair, but only to then throw him into the Riachuelo River,” he said. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, for her part, described the union leaders as “mafiosi.”
The government is planning to reorganize the Argentine economy with hundreds of legal articles – for example by privatizing state-owned companies, removing the right to free university education, deregulation of the economy and higher penalties against demonstrators who defy government regulations. In addition, employee rights are to be restricted and price caps for rents and important consumer goods are to be lifted. At the beginning of January, a court had already suspended a reform of labor law regulations. By decree, Milei wanted, among other things, to extend the probationary period, reduce certain compensation and reduce maternity leave.
Heaviness Economic crisis
Argentina is in a serious economic crisis. The inflation rate is more than 200 percent and around 40 percent of people live below the poverty line. South America’s second largest economy suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of a lot of tax revenue. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt is constantly growing.
Anne Herrberg, ARD Rio de Janeiro, tagesschau, January 25, 2024 3:29 p.m