In the first three months of Javier Milei’s government, inflation accumulated a rise of 71%, due to the strong devaluation applied by Luis Caputo and thanks to the freedom of companies to increase their prices; but the Government is intransigently opposing truckers’ salaries to be increased by 45% (only in April). In the electoral campaign Milei affirmed that salaries were going to go up, but after a drop of more than 20% in workers’ income between December and February, the Ministry of Labor refuses to approve joint ventures like that of the Truckers who They would only recover a part of what was lost.
“The Minister of Economy (Luis Caputo) said clearly that the Government is not going to validate increases above inflation. We will have to see how this discussion is raised and what measures the Government will take if a strike is carried out,” said the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, in statements to Radio Rivadavia this Monday. The official refers to Caputo’s statements in which he defined that the truckers’ parity does not make “any sense.” The minister deceitfully argued that the increases would be above inflation (something that would not fail to make sense considering the decline in salaries accumulated over the last 6 years), comparing the percentages with the inflation of March and April, without taking into account the delay in relation to previous months.
Milei releases prices that increase without stopping, except for wages. During the campaign she said that joint ventures had to be free, now she steps on salaries and refuses to approve joint agreements that she doesn’t like.
— Nicolas del Caño (@NicolasdelCano) April 8, 2024
The truckers’ joint agreement was signed in mid-February and consists of a 45% increase in two tranches, 25% in March and 20% in April. However, the Secretary of Labor Julio Cordero (former lawyer for the Techint group) refuses to approve it, giving companies the possibility of paying salaries without the update.
In four months (from November to February) medicine prices increased by 146%, between December and February food prices increased by 75%, in the same period transportation rates doubled, communication services increased by 80%. Even Caputo himself criticized the prepaid medicine companies by stating that they “declared war on the middle class,” but they did do so thanks to the Government’s own DNU, which almost completely deregulated the sector. In fact, the ruling party’s economic program is widening the gap between the profits of large companies and the income of the majority of the population.
Pablo Moyano (deputy general secretary of Truckers) had declared that this Monday “not a leaf was going to move” in the country because they were going to call for a strike from the union to which he belongs, but in line with the CGT’s threats, He postponed the measure and even opened the possibility of replacing it with a mobilization. The collapse of salaries and layoffs affect broader swathes of workers every day; the CGT’s statements that do not become facts give the Government room to continue attacking. A national fighting plan is increasingly necessary to defeat the Milei plan and the adjustment of the governors.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
