Development: On 12 June, the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Argentina’s main umbrella workers’ union, called for a 24-hour national general strike for 25 June against the government’s economic policies.
Significance: The decision by the CGT comes after the breakdown of the negotiations between the union and the government led by President Mauricio Macri over new salary increases to help counteract the effects of the high inflation rate in the country. The strike increases the pressure on the government to change its economic policies just as it prepares to present a new austere economic plan before the federal congress that meets the conditions set out in the Stand-By agreement it has recently reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been severely questioned by the political opposition.
- Amid the growing calls by unions in some sectors (which have already been holding their own strikes and demonstrations) for the CGT to stage a general strike to protest against the high inflation, the utility tariff increases, and public-sector layoffs, the Macri government established a dialogue table with the CGT last week to try to dispel this threat. This dialogue was due to continue yesterday. However, during a press conference in Buenos Aires, CGT leaders announced that they would not be attending the meeting with government representatives and that they had decided to call a strike.
- Héctor Daer, one of the CGT’s three main leaders explained that, during informal discussions with government representatives, the CGT leadership had gleaned that it would be “impossible” to reach a deal given the government’s current economic policy framework. Daer argued that the current erosion of workers’ salaries will only continue under the government’s plans to maintain its utility tariff increase schedule and to further cut government spending as agreed under the deal it reached with the IMF.
- Daer went on to call on the government to “reflect” on its decision to veto a bill approved by the opposition-controlled federal congress capping utility tariff increases and for maintaining that “a fiscal adjustment is the only way forward”. He insisted that the CGT wants to resolve things through dialogue “but a dialogue that produces answers, not one just for the picture”, accusing the government of adopting an intransigent stance.
- The government has described the CGT’s decision as unnecessary and accused the CGT of striking for political reasons, with Labour Minister Jorge Triaca saying that the CGT leadership has succumbed to the pressure from other union leaders who are determined to “create conflict with the government”. Triaca insisted that the government remains open to dialogue with the unions and urged these to call off their strikes and negotiate with the government.
Looking Ahead: The Macri government is once again under pressure to try to reach a deal with the CGT if it does not want to face mass demonstrations that would undermine its efforts to sell its new economic plan to the general public.
