Argentina: understand general strike against Milei’s reforms – 01/23/2024 – World

Less than two months after assuming the government of Argentina, Javier Milei will face a general strike this Wednesday (24) that is expected to affect several services in the country, including transport, health, education, industry, airports, banks, restaurants and theaters, mainly in the 12pm to midnight.

The mobilization, under the motto “the country cannot be sold”, is a reaction to the two measures that the ultra-liberal president announced in December to deregulate the economy and reduce state spending: a mega-decree and a package called the “bus law” that is being discussed in Congress.

The first, with 366 articles, is already in force, but the part relating to labor reform was suspended by the courts. The second was reformulated by the government. The new proposal, presented by the government this Monday (22), excludes 141 of the package’s 664 original articles, but maintains the basic liberal reforms.

Milei wants the text to be voted on in the Chamber plenary this Thursday (25) in a long session. Therefore, he has pressured his advisors and parliamentarians linked to him to reach an agreement in committees with the so-called “dialogue opposition”, made up of center and center-right parties.

One day before, however, he will test the support — or rejection — he has on the streets. The general strike was called weeks ago by the CGT (General Confederation of Workers), the largest trade union center in the country, and over the days it received support from several other groups, including the Peronist coalition União pela Pátria.

“It is an urgent decree of immeasurable magnitude. It is illegitimate, illegal and unconstitutional,” said the union’s general secretary, Héctor Daer, in an interview with channel C5N. “[Quanto à lei]deputies have five minutes to speak in a committee where transcendental topics are discussed, where 600 topics are discussed”, he said.

Milei, on the other hand, has minimized and criticized the call for strike, as well as business sectors. “There are two Argentinas. One that wants to remain backward, in the past and in decadence, […] and another who voted for the ideas of freedom”, said the president on a local radio station this Monday.

Demonstrations and potlucks are also scheduled in front of Argentine embassies and consulates in Brasília (10 am), Porto Alegre (1 pm) and São Paulo (5 pm), as well as in countries such as Uruguay, France, Spain, Germany and Belgium. According to the unions, more than 200 international associations supported the measure.

In Argentina, the expectation is that many sectors will be paralyzed for hours. Gol and Latam airlines canceled and postponed flights from Brazil on Wednesday, as the Aeronautical Personnel Association (APA), for example, promised to stop from midnight to midnight, which also affects internal travel.

Anyone visiting the country should find theaters closed and may feel the absence of employees in restaurants, hotels and tourist services, as the Union of Tourism, Hotel and Gastronomic Workers (UTHGRA) was another that joined the strike.

Many Argentine companies have decided to work from home, although public transport in the city of Buenos Aires will continue to operate until 7pm.

The intention, according to bus, subway and train unions, is to ensure the movement of protesters who will gather from 3pm to 4pm in front of the National Congress, in the center. There, the main union leaders must speak on a stage — the Sheet He tried to contact them this Tuesday (23), but received no response.

Separated into columns, as usual, the different organizations will occupy around a kilometer on the traditional Avenida de Maio, and will once again put to the test the new “anti-picketing protocol” created by Milei and his Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich.

The subject of controversy among the population, this protocol consists of using federal security forces to prevent roadblocks during protests, a recurring strategy in the country. In practice, however, police have set up cordons on the streets before protesters arrive, blocking their traffic but without generating direct confrontations.

The general tone is that of a peaceful protest this Wednesday, but the CTA (Argentine Workers’ Center), for example, recommended that protesters not take children to the events, walk in groups, carry cloths in case the police throw gas pepper spray on the crowd and shout loudly their names and surnames if they are detained.

“Let Bullrich not be fooled, because he will not be able to apply any protocol. We will be a crowd and we will not walk obediently along the sidewalk, as the government wants”, declared Rodolfo Aguiar, from the main public workers union center (ATE Nacional), raising the tension.

Milei’s government has also reacted harshly. “They are clearly on the wrong side of history,” said their spokesman, Manuel Adorni, on Tuesday. “It was the fastest strike announcement in Argentine history […] We don’t understand what makes them sleep and what makes them wake up,” he added ironically.

He announced that federal employees who cross their arms will have their day’s work deducted and reinforced that the telephone line created to report possible pressure from union members to participate in protests has received a thousand calls per day; 3,000 of these cases have already been sent to court.