Thousands of demonstrators led by the Association of State Workers (ATE) gathered in the streets of Buenos Aires yesterday in what is being called the first national union protest under President Mauricio Macri’s government.
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Thousands took to the streets around the country (Photo courtesy of ATE Buenos Aires facebook)
The protest, which began at 7am, blocked rush-hour traffic at the intersection of Av. Callao and Av. Corrientes before continuing on to 9 de Julio and Av. de Mayo at 11am, where the groups rallied to make their way to the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada.
The protesters included dozens of labour unions, human rights organisations, and various leftist groups, such as Kolina, La Campora, La Tupac Amaru, and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo association.
While police sources estimate around 50,000 people were involved, more conservative estimates place participation at 20,000.
Calling for wage increases, an end to state layoffs and job insecurity, and a stop to what they called the “criminalisation of social protest” the groups united in response to the thousands government workers laid off since President Macri’s government took over in December 2015. The ATE places the numbers sacked at 21,000 (8,000 in the national government, and 13,000 in the provinces) – and the government’s new protocol on police response to protesting, which was released last week.
Despite the new protocol’s allowance of police force to disperse protesters blocking road traffic within “five to ten minutes”, security forces did not intervene in yesterday’s protest.
Similar protests took place around the country, with large gatherings in Río Negro, Córdoba, Santa Fe, Salta, Entre Ríos, Santa Cruz, Formosa, Mendoza, Misiones, and Jujuy.
Upon the congregation of the protesters at the Plaza de Mayo, ATE General Secretary Hugo Godoy addressed the crowds with a speech in which he criticised the government’s claims of “modernisation” of the state through layoffs.
“Modernisation is not synonymous with layoffs, starvation wages, and job insecurity,” he said.
He added that “we are experiencing a real economic and social crisis across the country with rising unemployment and poverty,” stating that for each interval of rising prices and inflation, another 30,000 Argentines find themselves below the poverty line.
Other speakers such as National Federation of Teachers, Researchers, and Creators (CONADU Historíca) Secretary General Luis Tiscornia, focused on the unifying all sectors across the country. The “ATE struggle is our struggle,” he said, adding that of 130,000 teachers, 80% lack job security, being employed on an annual contract basis.
Julio Fuentes, President of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of State Workers (CLATE), and Assistant Secretary of the ATE also thanked international bodies for their solidarity, among them France’s General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), and Spain’s Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO).
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