https://socialistaction.org/2018/10/19/argentine-workers-stage-nationwide-strike-against-austerity-measures/
Argentine workers stage nationwide strike against austerity measures
/ 2 days ago
Oct. 2018 Macri hambre (BBC)By MARISELA TREVIN
After a day of nationwide protests on Monday [Sept. 24], Argentine
workers participated in mass work stoppages on Tuesday. Many of the
country’s streets and avenues were practically deserted as public
transportation workers and private-sector employees stayed home. It was
perhaps the most forceful of the four national strikes that have been
organized so far during the administration of President Mauricio Macri.
Left-wing unions and workers called for unified action, organizing
picket lines under their own banners, even as Argentina’s major union
federations—the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the Argentine
Workers’ Central Union (CTA)—failed to do so. Instead, the union
federation leaders held a press conference to demand an agreement with
the government to halt the dramatic rise in unemployment.
“If there is no plan B, there will be no truce with the Argentine
workers’ movement,” said Juan Carlos Schmid, of the dredge workers’
union. Héctor Daer, of the sanitation workers’union, declared that “the
CGT will lead the actions that it believes are necessary for the
government to change its course.”
But no new union actions were announced, and the union federation
leaders did not explain how they plan to continue the struggle against
Macri’s austerity measures.
Since the last national strike on June 25, millions of working families
have only seen their economic conditions worsen, as the country’s annual
inflation rate has soared to a staggering 42%. So far this year, the
Argentine peso has been devalued by 100%. The economy shrank 4.2% in the
last quarter, the unemployment rate is now at almost 10% and the worst
is yet to come.
Yet President Macri, like the union federations, has shown no signs of
changing course. While workers went on strike and took to the streets,
Macri held a meeting at the United Nations headquarters with Christine
Lagarde, head of the IMF, to negotiate a new loan agreement, after
having secured a $50 billion standby arrangement in June.
The first disbursement under the June deal has since evaporated, as the
country faces a major currency crisis, increased macroeconomic
instability and brutal austerity policies implemented by the national
and provincial governments to meet the IMF’s demands. This is a far cry
from the promises Macri made at the beginning of his term, when he said
he would immediately end inflation, achieve zero poverty and produce a
“shower of investments” in the country. The president has since changed
his tune, no longer bragging Trump-style about having the “best team in
the past 50 years.” The trumpet blowing has been replaced by claims that
“we’re not a perfect team, but we have good intentions,” or the hardly
reassuring “things may be tough, but at least we’re not Venezuela.”
Meanwhile, in the midst of the administration’s internal crisis, Luis
Caputo, the president of the Central Bank, resigned on Tuesday, the same
day of the national strike. His term lasted only three months, but
during that time the price of the U.S. dollar increased by 34%, and
interest rates rose to 60% in a trend that will only worsen the economic
downturn.
The government has denied that Caputo’s exit was a condition for closing
a deal with the IMF, but it is well known that the outgoing official had
expressed differences with the IMF over monetary policy. The
administration has virtually handed the control of the country’s economy
to IMF authorities, and it now plans to reach an agreement with Peronist
governors to pass a new budget that will only mean more austerity for
working-class families.
The Argentine Left and Workers’ Front (Frente de Izquierda y los
Trabajadores) is waging difficult battles against unemployment and
austerity, and it has denounced not only Macri’s policies and IMF
interference but also the complicity of Peronist governors and
lawmakers, who have provided essential support to the administration’s
policies.
Against leaders of the opposition calling for change at the ballot boxes
next year, the Left Front calls for mass assemblies in schools and
workplaces throughout the country to prepare for a general strike with
mobilizations to stop the administration’s policies. The brutal attack
against the Argentina’s working class is happening now; the struggle
against it must also take place now.
— Reprinted from Left Voice (Photo: BBC)
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October 19, 2018 in Latin America. Tags: Argentina
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Isaac Asimov
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