São Paulo – With the support of the country’s main trade unions, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) is carrying out a general strike in Argentina this Thursday (9). The 24-hour strike is supported by land, sea and air transport services. As well as educational, financial institutions and companies across the country. State, health and tourism workers also join the action against the “chainsaw” of Javier Milei’s government.
This will be the second general strike by Argentine workers in just four months. On January 24, a crowd took to the country’s streets against the president’s fiscal adjustment policies. Since taking office in December, Milei has carried out a series of deregulation measures. The social and public spending cuts are brought together in the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 70 and the Bill of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, briefly called the Bus Law. All are considered projects of destruction for the population.
At the end of April, the ultraliberal government managed to approve the Bus Law. Among several attacks, the measure brings a list of state-owned companies that can be privatized, concentrates powers in the hands of Milei and also promotes a small labor reform. The strike, however, puts the progress of the project, currently under analysis in Senate committees, to a test. Today’s strike, however, does not foresee mobilization on the streets.
Mass adherence to the strike in Argentina
“The impact caused by the price and tariff adjustment that is being carried out with the sole objective of reducing wages, only leads us to an unacceptable recessive process. For this reason, we took the decision to call a 24-hour strike on May 9th,” stated CGT union leader Héctor Daer at the call.
The general secretary of the State Workers’ Association, Rodolfo Aguiar, confirmed that the strike by public employees “is almost total”. The assessment is that around 97% of the category crossed their arms this Thursday. “We, State workers, are stopping due to layoffs and salary reductions, among other issues,” said Aguiar. The strike also marks the so-called “thick harvest”, the period of greatest production in Argentina, an important global food exporter.
The strike decree itself, made in early April, was considered a failure by the ruling party. “The economic and social situation makes it impossible to think about suspending a measure of force”, highlighted the CGT. “We are the axis of the fight against the government, we conquered this place”.
Milei’s surplus is a ‘scam’
Milei claims that adjustment policies are necessary to organize public finances and debts, such as the country’s US$44 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government claims to have made supposed progress in managing the Argentine economy. In January and February, the country recorded a fiscal surplus for the first time in more than a decade. However, Argentina is facing a strong economic recession, with inflation approaching 290% per year.
The expert’s assessment is that Milei’s “chainsaw” cost-cutting plan has taken a heavy toll on the population. The IMF’s own forecast is that Argentina’s GDP will contract by 2.8% in 2024. According to the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (Came), the sale of medicines, for example, suffered a drop of 42.4% in first two months of the year. Data from the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) show that the poverty rate in the country rose from 49.5% to 57.4%, reaching its highest level since 2004.
In this sense, the professor of the Bachelor’s Degree in Economic Sciences and the Postgraduate Degree in Economics at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) Ramon Garcia-Fernandez told RBA that the success of Milei’s fiscal adjustment is unsustainable. “The surplus in public accounts is being obtained by postponing payments. Even I can do it that way”, joked the Argentine economist who lives in Brazil. “I can increase my savings if I keep getting paid and don’t pay anyone. If you postpone all payments, you will obviously have a surplus. But is this a sustainable strategy? It would look more like a scam.”
