Argentine unions join forces for nationwide strike

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) -- Argentina's largest union, the General Workers' Confederation (CGT), on Thursday backed a nationwide strike call for next week by hard-liners against President Fernando de la Rua's economic reforms aimed at regaining investors' confidence.

The board of the "official CGT" -- a labor federation that is split in two, with the "dissident CGT" leading the strike call earlier this week together with the Argentine Workers' Center (CTA) union -- also announced plans for a strike in December.

"Next Friday we will bring the country to a standstill. We'll fight on until the government changes its economic policy," said Rodolfo Daer, head of the "official CGT," which is criticized by its more hard-line rivals for its moderate style of opposition to the ruling center-left Alliance and its Peronist successors.

The "official CGT" plans a 24-hour stoppage next Friday, while the "dissident CGT, the CTA and a new group coordinating roadblocks all over Argentina, the Combative Classwar Movement (CCC), have scheduled 36 hours of protest from noon Thursday.

The strike call was initially in response to the death of an unemployed man last week during clashes between police and people manning roadblocks in the northern province of Salta. Thousands of the 15.4 percent of Argentine workers who are jobless or 30 percent who are poor have blocked roads to demand jobs, food and welfare programs.

But strike calls gathered strength after last week's news of another wave of austerity measures aimed at bringing the budget deficit under control to secure funding and support for South America's No. 2 economy from foreign investors and multilateral lending bodies, especially the International Monetary Fund.

De la Rua's center-left government is in crisis after only 11 months in power, because of the poor prospects of ending over two years of economic stagnation, concern over Argentina's ability to pay its foreign debt, and infighting in the ruling coalition.

"This government has given in to the international financial bodies," said Daer.

The government, which came to power last year promising to clean up the corruption of 10 years' Peronist rule and build a more just society, appealed to unions to drop the strike plans.

"It's not the time for strikes," Labor Minister Patricia Bullrich told reporters. "The country is going through difficult times and we have to get over it."

"Nobody ignores the situation the country is in, after 30 months of economic stagnation and poverty," De la Rua's spokesman Ricardo Ostuni said a day earlier. "But strikes don't resolve the country's problems, they just make them worse."

The strike and the roadblocks come at the worst time for De la Rua, who is trying to convince investors, upon whom Argentina depends for hard currency, that the economy is under control.

He has secured a preliminary deal with provincial governors, 14 out of 23 of whom are opposition Peronists, to freeze public spending until 2005. But there are objections to plans to raise women's retirement age to 65 and scrap state pensions.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Government and opposition come together on austerity plan for Argentina
November 15, 2000
South American presidents meet, pledge economic unity
September 1, 2000

President of the nation of Argentina (in Spanish and English)
Argentina: Minister of Labor
Argentina's history and overview
Argentina General Information

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.