MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Court ruling curtails Argentine unions' powerful status

'The ruling is only for the public sector,' Tomada said.

The Argentine Supreme Court ruled this week as unconstitutional an article of the trade unions law, which says that workers wishing to be elected as shop stewards must be card-carrying members of unions with legal status.

The ruling was billed as a historic step toward trade union freedom by dissident labour groups that have contested the exclusive right to legal status, which they claim is unjustly held by the powerful Argentine General Labour Confederation (CGT) umbrella group and its member unions. "The ruling lacks all common sense and is an act of provocation to cloud the social climate" CGT's human rights secretary Julio Piumato said. The CGT, which considers itself the labour wing of the Peronist Party, fiercely opposes demands for full legal status made by the Argentine Workers Central (CTA), the nation's second largest umbrella group. "From now on workers will have the freedom to choose their representatives," said CTA head Hugo Yasky. But Argentine Labour Minister Carlos Tomada said the ruling will not bring about sweeping changes. "The ruling is only for the public sector," Tomada said. The Supreme Court ruling involves a suit between the ATE state workers union, the Labour Ministry and the civilian armed forces workers union PECIFA. PECIFA â€" with the backing of the Labour Ministry â€" had contested ATE call to an election to choose shop stewards in army offices. The Supreme Court decision shot down a ruling by an appeals court in favour of PECIFA, which claimed it only had the legal status to call elections in army offices, and the Labour Ministry. ATE belongs to the left-leaning CTA, which has been demanding legal status since the 90s but has always been turned down by authorities. The seven-member Supreme Court, in a ruling signed by six out of seven of its members, said that the law which specifies how to elect shop stewards clashed with International Labour Organization (ILO) resolutions in favour of plural union representation. The court said that the trade unions law which spells out shop stewards must belong to a union with legal status and be chosen in elections called by that same union also contradicted the Argentine Constitution. Current labour legislation allows one trade union with legal status per sector. The CGT is the only union umbrella group with full legal status. CGT secretary-general Hugo Moyano is also a vice-president of the ruling Peronist party. The CTA, which broke away from the CGT in 1992 and has 1.4 million members, has contested the CGT's claim that it has the exclusive right to legal status. Senator Gerardo Morales, the leader of the opposition Radical Party, meanwhile announced that he will sponsor a reform of the trade unions law in Congress to bring it in line with the ruling. (BAH)