Call for a general strike in Argentina: signs of strength and weakness

Argentina’s largest trade union federation is calling for a general strike – one month in advance. This leaves time for agreement with the Milei government.

General strikes: a demonstration against Argentine President Milei’s reform plans Photo: telam/dpa

BUENOS AIRES taz | Argentine unions have called for a general strike against the policies of libertarian President Javier Milei. “We cannot accept that everything should be liberalized and wages should be capped,” said Héctor Daer from the three-member CGT union board.

The loss of purchasing power in income has accelerated dramatically since Milei took office in December. Both wages and pensions cannot keep up with monthly inflation rates in the double-digit percentage range. In February the poverty line was just under 700,000 pesos. In the same month, the government raised the minimum wage for the first time, to 180,000 pesos.

At the same time, a wave of layoffs is rolling through the public service after the president demanded a 15 percent job cut in all ministries, authorities and state institutions. At the end of March alone, around 15,000 expiring employment contracts were not renewed.

The Confederación General del Trabajo cited falling real wages, the massive wave of layoffs in the public sector, and the government’s decision not to accept industry collective agreements with wage increases of more than twelve percent as reasons for the strike announcement.

The opposition to Milei appears weak and divided

It would be the second general strike in the president’s relatively short term in office. The first took place on January 24th with a mobilization in front of the Congress building in Buenos Aires. This time the unions want to bring the country to a standstill on May 9th – without mobilizing on the streets.

On Wednesday, the grandees of the umbrella organization sat at the table with the government for the first time. The meeting between the union leaders and Milei’s head of cabinet Nicolás Posse and Interior Minister Guillermo Francos in the presidential palace is said to have been open and friendly, but without concrete results. It was noticeable that CGT board member Pablo Moyano, deputy chairman of the powerful transport workers union ‘Camioneros’, was not present.

Moyano had been pushing for a second general strike for days. The fact that the CGT board had now unanimously decided to call for a strike, but chose May 9th for it, is not a sign of strength and will to fight, but rather shows the internal disunity of the union leadership. It was said afterwards that the GGT was just about prevented from breaking.

The call for a strike with a month’s notice leaves enough time for a possible agreement between the unions and the government. Board member Héctor Daer has already indicated the direction. “It is unacceptable for the state to ignore wage negotiations and not approve the results once agreed,” Daer said in his speech on Thursday. As surprisingly quickly as the general strike was announced, it could be canceled again surprisingly quickly.

The government and the president are aware of all this. Milei is relying on his support among the population, which is hovering around the 50 percent mark in the polls despite inflation and social misery. And he benefits from the opposition’s lack of leadership. Former President Cristina Kirchner has been silent for weeks, as has former Economics Minister Sergio Massa, who was defeated in the runoff election. These are all circumstances that irritate the union bosses and make them fear a general strike without strikers.