Argentina’s Most Powerful Union Planning Mass Strike

Argentinian Police Respond to Worker Protests (Flickr)

Argentina’s most powerful union, the General Confederation of Labor (CGL), have announced they will lead a union-wide strike on April 10th in protest of president Milei’s fiscal austerity programs, which they allege have unfairly impacted their members.  

Since his inauguration in December of 2023, Milei has aggressively cut government spending in hopes of reigning in Argentina’s inflation rate. Although he has delivered consistent government surpluses and a falling inflation rate, it has come at the expense of the country’s GDP, real wages, and unemployment rate. 

No group has been hit harder by Milei’s metaphorical budget chainsaw than government employees, many of whom have lost their jobs and their pensions. Before the current administration, 55% of registered workers in Argentina were employed in the public sector. Milei has slowly whittled down this number, and with a stagnating GDP, newly unemployed citizens have struggled to find opportunities in the private sector. 

The General Confederation of Labor represents a large number of these current and former federal employees, and has been outspokenly critical of Milei since before his election. Criticism quickly developed into action after Milei’s inauguration: CGL has led two mass strikes in Milei’s first year as president over pension rates.

Now, despite violent police responses to prior strikes, CGL is planning a third strike for April 10th to protest government spending cuts, and the economic downturn they claim has disproportionately hurt the working class. CGL Secretary-General Héctor Daer claims that despite falling inflation, “the fall in wages as from the end of last year caused a real wage drop,” adding that the goal of the strike is to “demand the reopening of public works”. Multiple truck driver and other transportation worker unions outside of CGL have already committed to join the strike. 

Although Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos plans to negotiate with CGL leaders, resolution is unlikely. Milei’s government alleges that CGL’s leftist identity and concern for the economic success of their own leaders are what motivate their strikes, not a genuine concern for the wellbeing of their workers or the country as a whole. 

However, with the government considering funding cuts to everything from universities to state-sponsored psychiatric hospitals, the stakes of austerity policy could expand far beyond the interests of public employees. 

With the popularity of radical austerity policies rising worldwide, the efforts of the CGL can serve as an important look towards the medium and long term effects of such policies. Ongoing unrest in Argentina serves as an example of the challenges austerity measures can face to figures like Elon Musk, who has emulated Milei’s chainsaw stunts in the U.S. On the other hand, labor organizations will closely monitor the strike, analyzing its challenges and outcomes to inform their own future strategies and responses.

Regardless, as the strike looms, unions are making it clear that they see austerity as a medicine too bitter to swallow, one that may not only fail to heal Argentina’s economy but could leave deeper wounds in its wake.