The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) has called for general strike on Thursday May 9. The general strike is the second since Milei took office in December 2023.
The measure taken by the CGT is a response to a meeting held a few days prior at the Casa Rosada, during the first official meeting with government officials. In response to their apathy in light of the dire economic, social and political context, the union called for a new measure of force to be unleashed as soon as possible.
In the same way as during the first general strike in January, the CGT is calling for a large mobilization, and will be accompanied by other unions, such as the Argentine Workers’ Central Union, and the Argentine Workers’ Central Union (Autonomous).
However, this time around, the general strike will come on the heels of two weeks of mass mobilizations and protests against the austerity measures being implemented by the government.
The first big march will take place on Tuesday April 23 in cities across the country. This is set to be a big national mobilization in defense of public universities and will bring together significant sections of students and educators’ organizations (not just those in university). For this day, the CGT also said that it would launch a call to mobilization in defense of public education.
Most of the universities in the country are on the verge of bankruptcy or declaring a “budgetary emergency,” as for now they have the 2023 budget extended, which was devalued by an inter-annual inflation that almost reaches 300%.
The CGT and other unions will call a march again for May 1, in order to encourage the workers to continue mobilizing and resisting for the general strike, which will take place the following week.
“The impact generated by the adjustment of prices and tariffs that has been taking place with the sole intention of reducing wages, only leads us to an unacceptable recessionary process. For this reason we have decided to call a 24-hour strike on May 9,” said Héctor Daer, head of the CGT, at the CGT headquarters shortly after the meeting of the board of directors.
For at least two weeks, Javier Milei’s government will have the streets full in rejection of the austerity plan that continues to be applied and which affects primarily the working class.
This article was translated and adapted from an article originally published in Spanish on ARG Medios.
