BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Almost five months after assuming the presidency in Argentina, Javier Milei faced on Thursday the second general strike called by the powerful union movement against the economic, tax and State reforms that he is promoting to dismantle regulations that prevailed during decades.
Posing in an image with a blue t-shirt with white letters that read “I do not stop,” Milei, an ultraliberal and far-right economist who took office on December 10, showed on social networks his disagreement with the strike that he considers a political tool of unionists to undermine their power. “Long live freedom, damn it,” the president’s favorite catchphrase, concluded the message.
The 24-hour protest measure called by the General Confederation of Labor—CGT, the main union confederation—and supported by the Argentine Workers’ Confederation was strongly felt in Buenos Aires, where practically all public transport unions met. they folded
The subway is not working, as are the urban railway lines, affecting millions of users. A few dozen buses were providing service and several of them reported attacks on the vehicles, apparently committed by union members who were demanding full support for the strike.
Meanwhile, the two airports in Buenos Aires looked practically empty due to the suspension of hundreds of flights. Aerolíneas Argentinas reported that it canceled 191 flights, affecting nearly 24,000 passengers, which will represent losses of nearly two million dollars.
Meanwhile, commercial activity was half paralyzed in the capital, as if it were a holiday, and although private and public schools opened their doors, many teachers were absent due to the lack of public transportation.
The unions reject Milei’s adjustment policies to guarantee zero deficit as well as two economic and tax reform initiatives approved days ago by the Chamber of Deputies and which began to be analyzed by commissions of legislators in the Senate.
The so-called Base Law project contemplates, among other points, privatizations of public companies and a labor reform, while the tax reform includes the reinstatement of a tax on salaries that would affect thousands of employees. Both involve changes that are especially sensitive for unions.
The labor movement has denounced the dismantling of the State and the lack of social protection that labor reforms would imply.
He also stated in a document that “in the name of a misunderstood market freedom, (the government) implements a brutal adjustment that the lower-income sectors, the salaried middle classes, retirees and pensioners especially suffer.”
The Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, downplayed the protest measure. “If to achieve a strike you have to throw a stone at a bus (bus), it means that you are weak. This is the strike of weakness. You cannot talk about compliance,” said the official.
Héctor Díaz, 45, an employee at a security company, told The Associated Press that he had to resort to private transportation to get to his workplace. “It makes me tired and stressed.”
“Milei does not deserve the strike because he has been in office for five months… they are harming the entire nation. We have received a very precarious country and they do not let him govern,” said Díaz.
Jonathan Sandoval, 26 years old and who works as a blacksmith, said that “there is no other choice but to work. You have to generate money.”
The strike takes place in a week marked by protests against Milei’s policies. On Monday, workers from different transportation sectors held assemblies at their workplaces, which in some cases disrupted services. On Tuesday leftist social organizations blocked access to Buenos Aires and carried out cuts in other parts of the country.
On January 24, the CGT led a first national strike just over a month after Milei’s inauguration against an ambitious package of reformist initiatives that did not prosper in Congress. Some of them have been softened with the support of allied sectors so that they make their way through the Legislature.
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2024-05-12 11:01:14