\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t A 24-hour general strike in Argentina to protest against President Javier Milei\u2019s labor reform bill was having a 90% compliance rate, the country\u2019s main union leader said on Thursday. Meanwhile, clashes between demonstrators and the police were reported outside Congress, where the initiative was being debated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis strike has been widely observed, with more than 90% of activity halted,\u201d said Jorge Sola, one of the three secretaries general of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the country\u2019s main trade union organization, in a press conference, to thunderous applause.<\/p>\n
In Buenos Aires, subways and most buses did not work. \u201cAll ports are at a standstill, as are transportation and industry,\u201d said Octavio Arg\u00fcello, another CGT secretary general. \u201cOur colleagues had the tremendous strength and willpower to bring the entire industry to a halt,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sola went on to lambast the national administration\u2019s economic policies, saying that, as a result, more than 21,000 small and medium enterprises shut down. He added that, every day since Milei took office, 400 jobs have been lost.<\/p>\n
The union leader criticized the so-called Labor Modernization Bill. \u201cI find it hard to call something that sets us back 100 years in terms of individual and collective rights \u2018modernization\u2019,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The ruling party\u2019s initiative increases the maximum daily work shift from eight to 12 hours (with a 12-hour rest) and enables employers to pay salaries \u201cin kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
A great point of contention is an article that limits sick leave pay. Currently, Argentines get paid their salaries in full when they take sick leave. The version of the bill that was approved by the Senate stated that, if workers got injured or sick due to \u201cvoluntary activities\u201d unrelated to their jobs, their salaries would be cut by 25% for non-risky activities; in the case of risky ones, the cut would climb to 50%.<\/p>\n
La Libertad Avanza has agreed to remove that article from the bill after talks with the opposition to guarantee more support.<\/p>\n
However, there are other sections of the bill that could also be modified during the session. One is the article creating a national fund, called FAL, that would be used for granting severance pay for fired workers.<\/p>\n
Outside Congress, more than 2,000 officers were deployed, with motorcycles, infantry, water cannons, and tear gas. Wounds from tear gas canisters were reported among the protesters. A spokesperson of the City Police confirmed to the Herald that three protestors were detained for \u201cdamage\u201d and \u201cresistance to authority.\u201d Five people, two of them minors, had been detained previously over a robbery.<\/p>\n
\u2018The reform will not create jobs\u2019<\/p>\n
After the conference, Sola spoke to the Herald. During the interview, he disputed the government\u2019s idea that the reform will create jobs. \u201cIt will not create jobs; no change in the rules between employers and workers creates jobs in and of itself,\u201d Sola said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it will do is generate savings for employers and reduce the quantity and quality of individual and collective rights,\u201d he added. \u201cWe have calculated that around US$6 billion in contributions and payments will be transferred from the workers\u2019 sector to the employers\u2019 sector, plus the FAL.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about a criticism from left-wing parties on the CGT\u2019s decision not to call a march on Thursday, he said that the union organization has made 12 marches and four general strikes since Milei took office. Sola did not confirm whether they would call for strikes or protests next week, when the bill would be discussed again in the Senate if it passes in the lower house.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will discuss it at [Friday\u2019s] board meeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A 24-hour general strike in Argentina to protest against President Javier Milei\u2019s labor reform bill was having a 90% compliance rate, the country\u2019s main union leader said on Thursday. Meanwhile, clashes between demonstrators and the police were reported outside Congress, where the initiative was being debated. \u201cThis strike has been widely observed, with more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":36810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2646,9961,44,59,3341,151],"tags":[2645,10048,173,86,10152,135],"class_list":["post-36809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cgt","category-general-strike","category-labor-reform","category-politics","category-protest","category-society","tag-cgt","tag-general-strike","tag-labor-reform","tag-politics","tag-protest","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}