MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: CGT leader says Thursday's strike “a success”

“There cannot be an Argentina with free prices and stepped on wages,” Daer stressed

Argentina's General Labor Confederation (CGT) leaders said Thursday's nationwide strike was a “resounding success.” It was the third such measure against President Javier Milei. CGT Joint Secretary-General Héctor Daer underscored how the Libertarian administration's “chainsaw” policies were causing a drop in people's income. In Daer's view, the Government's adjustments impact mostly retirees and vulnerable groups.

The union leader also condemned the government’s anti-strike campaign, likening it to tactics used during undemocratic times, and rejected claims of violence during incidents involving buses, which “have nothing to do with the workers or the trade union organizations.”

“Faced with all this scenario, the success of the measure of force both in yesterday's mobilization and the strike in all industrial sectors, transport, services, sectors that fundamentally move the economic process of our country,” he added.

Daer also congratulated “all the workers who made the decision to stop their activities to demonstrate, once again, that the union movement is carrying out a clear and concrete agenda to change the income policies of our country.”

“We are not against the Republic, we are clearly debating that there cannot be an Argentina with free prices and low salaries. Argentina is already unequal enough to continue deepening it,” he further noted.

The CGT also questioned the lack of transparency in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that such agreements often lead to further hardship for workers.

“We have not been able to know anything about the agreement with the Fund, and in the meantime, reserves are still being lost. It is a bad sign for an economic plan to ask for more money. Every time we go to the Fund, we end up adjusting the most vulnerable sectors. For us, the Fund is never the way out,” Daer also pointed out.

The government, in turn, dismissed the strike as politically motivated, associating it with union leaders tied to past administrations and defending its policies against accusations of economic mismanagement.