MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan labor unions staging nationwide strike

Abdala explained there will be no main demonstration with speeches, which is usually the case during strikes

Uruguay's Plenario Intersindical de Trabajadores (PIT-CNT) general labor union has called for a 24-hour general strike Thursday to protest against wage cuts, high costs and social security reform.

“The call is against the model of inequality, against hunger and adjustment, for decent and quality work, for wages, against pension reform, in defense of collective bargaining and public enterprises,” union leader Elbia Pereira said.

The PIT-CNT maintains that the cost of living in Uruguay is increasingly higher and the prices of the products which make up the basic food basket keep increasing.

A statement from the union leadership supporting the measure has also been released.

The group also demands a larger budget for education, housing, and healthcare, and further public investment to guarantee more jobs.

The strike will affect passenger transportation throughout the country and classes at all educational levels. Also affected will be stores, public offices, official and private banks, plus all government agencies.

Healthcare workers' unions will adhere to the measure but will have teams on call for emergencies, oncology patients, and surgeries.

PIT-CNT leader Marcel Abdala explained that the series of demands includes a rejection of President Luis Lacalle Pou's policies, which -they argue- generate an increase in poverty, insecurity, and violence, as the number of murders in the country is also going up.

Other demands are quality work and wage, retirement, and pension increases; in addition to a national minimum wage, because as long as there is no wage recovery, quality work, and public policies that address this issue, the most vulnerable people will continue to suffer, as always, the unions stressed.

The group once again insisted on its demand for truth, memory, and justice for the fate of the detainees-disappeared during the military dictatorship ending in 1985.

Abdala also explained that there will be no speeches, which is usually the case during strikes.

The last nationwide strike carried out by the PIT-CNT was on March 8, International Women's Day. Then, on July 7 it carried out a partial strike against “unequal growth.”