Argentine unions call for nationwide strike on Jan. 24

Argentine unions call for nationwide strike on Jan. 24

Argentina’s General Labor Confederation (CGT) Thursday called for a nationwide strike next Jan. 24 to protest against President Javier Milei’s sweeping emergency decree (DNU) deregulating most aspects of the South American country’s economy in addition to the bill sent Wednesday to Congress to deepen those reforms.

The measure would start at 11 am that day, followed by a mass rally before the Congress building in Buenos Aires, it was explained by the CGT’s Confederal Central Committee (CCC).

On Jan. 10, union leaders will hold a national plenary meeting to further review the country’s situation, which is expected to be attended by leaders such as Pablo Moyano, Héctor Daer, Carlos Acuña, Germán Martínez, José Luis Lingeri, Sergio Palazzo, Andrés Rodríguez, and Noé Ruiz among others.

Most union leaders were reluctant to call for more drastic measures earlier this week but eventually gave in to pressure from social groups anticipating a more profound crisis as Milei’s measures become enforceable. In the end, they seemed to have realized that talks with lawmakers from both Houses of Congress were yielding insufficient results.

However, Daer and Palazzo spoke of “the harmful consequences of this DNU” as they arrived at the CGT headquarters Thursday.

Palazzo demanded that the Judiciary monitored Milei’s initiatives more attentively because they affected “the situation of the workers” while claiming for himself (Milei) “the power to legislate for two years, with the possibility of extending it for two more years, [which would] mean practically eliminating Congress.”

Daer argued that adding the “DNU to the Omnibus Law [bill] increased the evil exponentially.” He agreed with Palazzo that “the President claimed very broad powers to the point of declaring a total war for two years.”