Milei is the most expensive ‘gnocchi’ in Argentina, says union leader – 04/04/2024 – Market

For many, the news of the dismissal came in the middle of an extended six-day holiday that combined Holy Week and the anniversary of the Falklands War and slowed the pace in Argentina from March 28th to April 2nd. That was when the Javier Milei government accelerated notifications of public servants’ dismissals.

The ultraliberal administration had announced at least 15 thousand cuts as an initial objective. So far, according to ATE (State Workers Association), there have been 11 thousand. Against this agenda, the group decided on another strike this Friday (5).

Rodolfo Aguiar, the general secretary of ATE, says that workers are just “putting into practice the tools of strike, demonstration and the right to assembly”. A Sheet he criticizes the view that Milei shares about servers.

“The government has had relative success in the campaign to discredit and stigmatize public employees and has thus managed to apply its adjustment [da máquina pública]”, he says. “If there are people who receive a salary and do not work, this must be reported, and the State has tools to exonerate them.”

“It turns out that even I know a ‘gnocchi’ employee. The most expensive ‘gnocchi’ for the Argentine State, who started his position on December 10th and spends at least six out of eight hours of his daily working day talking on social media, is President Javier Milei.”

“Gnocchi” is historically a derogatory way of referring to “ghost” state employees in Argentina, who only appear at work on payday, the 29th, the same date on which this dish is eaten in the country, according to tradition.

For many analysts, the Argentine State is considered bloated for its budgetary capabilities. The public sector had at least 3.4 million salaried employees a year ago, still during the government of Peronist Alberto Fernández, according to official data.

Milei since the campaign, and as one of his main mottos, he promises to reduce the figure. His management talks about the initial cut of 15 thousand workers but has also mentioned the figure of 70 thousand as the number of positions under analysis for possible cuts in the future.

Throughout this Wednesday (3), at the return of the long weekend, hundreds of employees pulled by ATE occupied public buildings, even under a strong security presence. They speak of similar measures during the strike approved for this Friday.

“Behind every job that is lost in the State, there is a public policy that is dismantled”, says Aguiar. “It is an individual tragedy and that of a family who will lose their salary but, if analyzed as a whole, it is also a collective tragedy.”

Coinciding with this Wednesday’s mobilizations was the resignation of the number 2 of the Labor Secretariat under the Milei administration, Mariana Hortal Sueldo.

At least formally, the body to which she is linked, the Human Capital super department, says that her departure is not related to the recent protests.

Tough in the terms he uses, the union leader says that Milei’s measures are similar to those of the economic policy of the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983).

“You have to go back to 1976 to find records of an attempt to change the legal system in force in our country as profoundly as we do now,” he says.

“There are three points that summarize Milei’s policy: destroying jobs, eradicating all the rights of workers and the people and ending retirement.”

Unionists are once again concerned about the labor reform that Milei wants to put into practice. His government had already imposed the package of changes in the form of a decree, which, however, was blocked by the courts at the request of the CGT (General Confederation of Labor).

Now, Milei has started a major collaboration with governors considered open to dialogue to include the reform in a reformed package of laws that should be sent to Congress for a vote soon.

The CGT promised to announce new mobilization measures next week. The idea is that acts precede May 1st, Labor Day. This Thursday, public education teachers crossed their arms.

Despite the dissatisfaction of the unions, the Milei government received praise from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) this Thursday. Speaking in Washington, spokeswoman Julie Kozack described the government’s progress as impressive.

Inflation slowed in the country, and the first fiscal surplus in more than a decade was recorded. On the other hand, poverty increased and workers’ purchasing power fell.

Argentina has a huge debt of more than US$40 billion contracted with the IMF during the Maurício Macri government, now an ally of Milei.