Hugo Moyano in today’s press conference with CTA’s Pablo Miceli and CGT’s Luis Barrionuevo, among others (photo: Tito La Penna/Télam/jc)
Unions Ratify Tomorrow’s General Strike: A general strike organised by the opposition factions of the umbrella unions CGT and CTA, as well as some left-wing parties, will take place tomorrow across the country. In a press conference, CGT leader Hugo Moyano, who claims the strike will “paralyse the country”, explained that the reasons to carry it out are for the government to not set an upper limit to wage negotiations, for the income tax threshold to be modified, for universal family allowances, for an increase in pensions, and against insecurity. Antonio Caló, leader of the CGT faction closest to the government who does not support the strike, replied to Moyano saying that all these issues have been brought up with the government already, and that his union’s position is that “it is better to engage in dialogue.” However, he admitted that the strike is likely to be successful due to the interruption in public transport services. The government, in turn, referred to the strike in a paid announcement published in the press today by the Labour Ministry under the headline “Tomorrow, most Argentines want to work”, in which it lists all the unions that are not joining the strike. “In light of the strike announced by a number of unions, we inform that the industry, trade, banking, teaching, and public services sectors (except for transport) do not support this measure, which is why activity should go on as normal.”
Some of the unions representing subte and train drivers as well as short and long distance bus and truck drivers will participate in the strike. Flights will be affected and there will be no rubbish collection. Ports, courts, and newspaper stands will remain closed. The majority of teachers will not join the strike, and hospitals will provide limited emergency services. Supply to supermarkets and petrol stations will be affected, and ATMs will not be stocked up tomorrow. Some left wing parties will set up pickets in roads around the country, including access routes to the city of Buenos Aires.
New Bill to Decriminalise Abortion: A new bill to decriminalise abortion was introduced in Congress today. The bill, drafted by the National Campaign for Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion, was supported by over 60 deputies from different political parties. It makes abortion legal within the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy, or after this period in cases of rape or serious fetal malformation, and available at public hospitals and through health insurance companies. It is the fifth time a bill of this kind is introduced in Congress, as previous bills lost their parliamentary status due to not being debated in a timely manner. The authors of the bill pointed out that “an estimated 500,000 women have abortions in Argentina each year, which shows that penalising this practice is useless. This is why we argue that the debate about decriminalisation and legalisation of abortion is fundamental and urgent.” Even though the bill is supported by several deputies from the ruling party Frente Para la Victoria (FPV), the government stated that they do not support it. In his daily press conference today, Chief of Cabinet Jorge Capitanich said that “the executive does not promote or endorse” the bill.
Controversy Over President’s National Address: A debate was sparked yesterday after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner used a national address to broadcast the inauguration of the Word Federal Encounter at Tecnópolis. Before the president’s speech, singers, poets, a rapper, and a standup comedian performed for the country. During the address, president Fernández highlighted the importance of using words rather than violence to solve conflicts, in a reference to the recent wave of lynchings. She was criticised by the opposition for using a national address -which must be broadcast by all radio stations and TV channels- without justification. The media law, in its article 75, states that this resource must be used “in grave, exceptional, or institutionally significant situations.” In a radio interview this morning, constitutional lawyer Daniel Sabsay said that “the national address is to be used for cases of war, subversion, or some situation linked to the powers of the state. It is absolutely restricted to exceptional situations. It has been so trivialised that now it’s even used for hip hop.” The president replied to criticisms on Twitter, saying: “See? They have no sense of humour. All that fuss for a bit of hip hop and a stand up?”
The post Argentina News Roundup: 9th April 2014 appeared first on The Argentina Independent.