The Argentine working class carried out a massive, one-day general strike protest between April 9 and April 10 against the administration of fascist President Javier Milei and his new austerity package demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In Buenos Aires, on Wednesday, April 9, trade unionists and students joined retired workers in their weekly protest rally. The strike then continued for the rest of the day until midnight Friday. Strikes also took place in other cities across the country.
Argentina’s three Peronist trade union federations, the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo), the CTA-A (Central de Trabajadores Argentinos Autónoma) and the CTA-T (Central de Trabajadores Argentinos -Trabajadores), called for the general strike.
While the CGT and both CTAs supported Wednesday’s pension protests, no rallies or demonstrations took place on Thursday.
The third one-day general strike since Milei took power on December 2023 (the first two were in January and May 2024) was convoked by the trade-union bureaucracies nearly eleven months after they agreed to a truce with the Milei administration. This gave a green light to the government’s anti-labor measures, including the sacking of tens of thousands of trade union members among industrial, health, education, and government workers, along with cuts in real wages and benefits for workers and retirees.
The mass walkout occurred amid growing popular anger as monthly inflation rates begin to skyrocket in repudiation of the latest loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and in the midst of a crypto currency corruption scandal that directly involves the Argentine president.
The strike took place two days after the IMF announced a ‘technical agreement’ with Argentina for a 20-billion-dollar (US) “extended arrangement” loan to the Milei administration, “ready for discussion” by the IMF directorate.
The streets of Buenos Aires were empty on Thursday, except for empty municipal transit busses (whose drivers did not join in the strike). The subway service was suspended, and more than 250 flights were cancelled from Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport, a consequence of the strike by air-traffic controllers. All government offices were closed, together with the nation’s ports, logistic centers, and industrial corridors across the country.
Millions of workers and pensioners demand President Milei’s resignation, together with the removal of his Security Minister Patricia Bullrich following the mass repression of retirees last March that left hundreds wounded.
Moreover, having suffered historic attack against its living standards under the Peronists and now Milei, the working class sees another round of austerity measures demanded by IMF as an existential threat.
A drop of the monthly inflation rate compared to last year has resulted in the official poverty rate falling from 52.9 percent to 38.1 percent. On the one hand, there are indications that prices were not fully updated for the calculation.
Moreover, mass participation in the strike demonstrates a perception among workers that the desperate deal with the IMF points to an underlying crisis that is actually deepening and whose cost will be further imposed on them.
Foreign reserves have dropped $7 billion in just over three months, and capital flight is increasing, especially with the global economic turmoil from the Trump administration’s trade war policies. The latest inflation numbers actually rose from 2.2 percent in February to 2.4 percent in March.
However, the CGT and CTA leaders convoked last week’s strike within the bankrupt framework of merely pressuring the Milei administration.
Shortly after signing the truce with Milei, on February 2024, the CGT/CTAs bureaucrats had already met with IMF officials to rubber stamp the monetary adjustment negotiated with the Milei administration, which imposed savage austerity measures on the Argentine working masses.
Declaring the strike an “all-around success,” CGT leader Héctor Daer laid special emphasis on the fact that even the Vaca Muerta oil fields were paralyzed by the strike. The CGT and both CTA federations have yet to indicate what the next steps will be, if any, as the May 1 International Workers Day approaches.
On April 11, an IMF 138-page press release confirmed the four-year arrangement, which had been pre-approved by the national legislature. The press release praises Milei’s “strong track record” and declares that the new agreement will “foster productivity, competitiveness and growth” (i.e., speedups, wage cuts, and corporate profits):
The IMF supported program aims to consolidate the impressive initial gains from recent policy efforts—anchored by strong fiscal and monetary adjustment and deregulation efforts—while addressing Argentina’s remaining macroeconomic vulnerabilities.
As Milei stressed in his February address to the legislature, the IMF press release considers the impoverishment of the working class, mass unemployment, and the elimination of social entitlements as necessary steps for the economy.
According to a recent survey published by elDiarioAR news website, over 60 percent of Argentines oppose the IMF agreement and only 10 percent approve it fully.
During the April 10 strike, Milei’s press spokesperson denounced the trade union bureaucrats for moving around in imported cars like oligarchs while workers are forced to take public transportation.
The reality is that, in order to impose their program of attacks on workers’ rights and conditions, the Milei administration and the IMF depend on the services provided by the Peronist CGT and both CTA labor federations.
Betraying the working class, retirees and students, the union bureaucracy and their apologists in the pseudo-left use such protest strikes to let off steam and channel opposition behind the dead end of capitalist politics and talks with Milei through which the bureaucrats only seek to secure their own access to privileges and positions.