MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Third general strike against Milei under way

The bus drivers' union (UTA) will not be joining the stoppage. so those wanting to go to work will have that part of public transport available

Unions such as the General Labor Confederation (CGT) and Argentina's Workers' Central (CTA) started demonstrating Wednesday ahead of Thursday's 24-hour full strike, the third since President Javier Milei took office.

“In the face of an intolerable social inequality and a government that does not attend to the demands for better income and a decent quality of life for all, the workers are going on strike,” the CGT said in a statement.

During Wednesday's weekly protest by retirees before Congress, the unions cited “intolerable social inequality” under a government unresponsive to demands for better wages and living conditions as reasons for the strike, with economic grievances dominating slogans like rejecting “policies of hunger, adjustment, unemployment, layoffs, and abandonment.”

The march proceeded peacefully, but union leaders, including CGT co-secretary Héctor Daer, highlighted a lack of dialogue with the Libertarian administration, criticizing its economic stance of “free prices and low wages.”

Thursday’s strike is expected to disrupt public transport, aviation, banking, and commerce, though the powerful bus drivers’ union (UTA) withdrew support, limiting the mobilization’s scope.

Casa Rosada sources downplayed the measure's importance, deeming it politically motivated in addition to serving narrow interests. Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos also pointed out that Milei's “chainsaw” reforms affected the interests of union leaders more than it did workers themselves. Hence, the protests.

“It is not a strike that worries us. It is society that will judge later if the union leaders are representative or not. I do believe that there are things that worry the union leaders, which are all the reforms that we are planning to face in the labor contract law, in all the contributions that are made, what are called solidarity contributions, which are contributions made to the unions from the workers' salaries,” Francos said.

Government sources in Buenos Aires also hinted that state workers joining the measure of force would have a day's pay deducted, which critics see as violating rights.

Given the importance of transport on general strike days, Daer insisted that Argentina's society was so burdened by Milei's reforms that “buses may run, but they will run empty.”

The lorry drivers' union also noted that Thursday's stoppage would be “in rejection of the policies of hunger, adjustment, unemployment, layoffs and abandonment of the libertarian government.”