The CUT was hoping for a bigger turnout. Arturo Martínez, president of the CUT, had hoped to see over a million workers participate in the strike. In the event, about 512,000 workers backed the strike. Still, Martínez said, that the strike was a success because workers from the main sectors, responsible for the smooth running of the country -health, transport and education- all participated.
This much was true: 95% of health workers took part, along with nearly 80% of bus drivers in the capital took part, as did all taxi drivers. In the education sector, 31% of teachers joined in the strike and more than 80% of students failed to attend classes. The strike had little effect on the manufacturing sector however. Chile's biggest manufacturing group Sofofa said that only 3.7% of workers (some 26,000) from the 63 companies that it represents, failed to go to work.
Nevertheless, the significance of the strike should not be lost on the government. Although the interior minister José Miguel Insulza dismissed it, saying that 'the country continued to operate as normal, there was no strike because 99% of Chile functioned without problems', the facts tell a different story. Public transport, to mention but one sector, was a mess.
Neither was Insulza's nonchalance shared by President Ricardo Lagos. Lagos said the strikers had besmirched the reputation of the country: 'I don't want a country whose abiding image in the world at large is one of street disturbances', he said. 'Workers don't need to shout to be heard', he added.
The strike lived up to its billing as a 'national strike', with workers from as far north as Arica in region I and as far south as Valdivia in region X participating. Just as concerning for the government, the strike exposed further rifts in the ruling Concertacíon as it was supported by the socialist party, which forms part of the coalition. Also, the Roman Catholic church, still hugely influential in Chile, offered moral support for the strike.
The strike was marked by sporadic outbreaks of violence. In Santiago, the police broke up a column of strikers to prevent them from reaching the La Moneda presidential palace, using tear gas, water canons and deploying the special forces. The most violent clashes with the police were in Santiago, Arica, Iquique, Valparaíso, Concepción, Temuco and Valdivia. Half of all the arrests took place in Santiago. Martínez denounced the violence. He said that the police were heavy-handed and the strike had purely peaceful intentions.
The strike's cost to the economy was in the region of US$30m and US$40m, according to the government's general secretary, Francisco Vidal.
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