On Tuesday, November 15, workers across Uruguay observed a four-hour strike from 9 am to 1 pm local time, and mobilized across the country against an anti-worker pension reform promoted by the right-wing government of President Luis Lacalle Pou.
In the capital of Montevideo, tens of thousands of workers from diverse sectors held a massive march, from the University of the Republic to the Legislative Palace, rejecting the pension reform bill, which a special commission of the Senate is currently studying.
The partial general strike was called for by the Inter-Union Plenary of Workers–National Convention of Workers (PIT–CNT), the Uruguayan union center, uniting under slogans such as, “Don’t let them steal your future,” “Against pension reform and the inequality model,” “In defense of the Social Security law,” and “For the elimination of the Pension Savings Fund Administrators (AFAP).”
At parliament, the president of the PIT-CNT, Marcelo Abdala, addressed workers and argued that the pension reform “offers us to retire later, work more and earn less.”
“This bill is Robin Hood in reverse. It is the model of inequality. It is getting [money] out of those at the bottom to give it to those at the top,” said Abdala.
Abdala claimed that the reform “does not change the finance system at all.”
“They start [talking about the reform], taking as a base an alleged deficit in social security, but they don’t touch the finance, because they are not willing to do what needs to be done, which is to directly tax the wealthy [people] of this country. Since they are not willing to touch the privileged, it is absolutely clear that this pension reform bill radically violates the rights won by the working population,” he added.
Abdala also denounced the fact that in Uruguay the working population contributes 15% towards the pension while employers contribute 7.5%. He also mentioned that there are several big national and multinational companies that are exempted from employer contributions, while small local businesses are obligated to contribute.
The pension reform presented by the Lacalle Pou administration, contrary to its election promises, raises the retirement age to 65 years, attacks early retirement benefits under the current social security system, and increases benefits for the private AFAPs, among other modifications.
During the strike, the PIT-CNT also denounced that under the Lacalle Pou administration, there had been a decline in salaries, pensions and retirements, an increase in people living below the poverty line, more than one million people receiving meals at community kitchens, and an exponential increase in homicides.
A las 13h culminó el paro general parcial convocado por el @PITCNT1 contra la reforma jubilatoria, el cuarto realizado en lo que va del año. pic.twitter.com/JJ1BLM1qNP
— MVD Noticias (@MVDNoticias) November 15, 2022
QUE NO TE ROBEN EL FUTURO‼️
Contra la reforma jubilatoria y el modelo de la desigualdad
En defensa de nuestros derechos y hacia el III Congreso del PuebloPIT-CNT#ParoPITCNT #QueNoTeRobenElFuturo pic.twitter.com/DhpLOXarZj
— PIT CNT (@PITCNT1) November 15, 2022
Since June, different unions affiliated with the PIT-CNT have led protest actions against other neoliberal economic policies of the Lacalle Pou government.
The Federation of ANCAP workers, the state-owned petroleum, alcohol and portland cement company, recently went on a three-day-long strike in rejection of the policy of privatization of State resources.
The trade union center also supported the mobilization carried out by the Popular and Solidarity Coordinator at the beginning of October against increasing poverty, hunger and food insecurity in the country.
The PIT-CNT, on November 15, also called for a 24-hour national strike against educational reform, another of the government’s plans that has raised objections amongst social movements and educational unions.
