Transport workers and allied groups from both pro- and anti-government umbrella unions shut down much of the City of Buenos Aires with a general strike, which brought public transport to a standstill and forced many businesses to close for 24 hours.
The stoppage affected buses, trains and subways for the entirety of Tuesday, while key services such as garbage collection, goods deliveries and service stations also joined the strike across the country.
UTA transport union leader Roberto Fernández was one of the key organisers of the strike, and was later joined by Teamster boss and CGT leader Hugo Moyano, as well as gastronomic chief Luis Barrionuevo and opposition CTA secretary Pablo Micheli, while militants from the socialist PTS cut off access in key entry points between the City and Greater Buenos Aires.
Those roadblocks were lifted in the afternoon, but much of Downtown and other usually vibrant neighbourhoods saw traffic activity similar to a Sunday or public holiday, as many were forced to miss work due to transport difficulties.
While the stoppage was carried out in mostly peaceful conditions, a handful of violent incidents were recorded as participants tried to halt activity. In the City intersection of the avenues Córdoba and Puerreydón, at least six taxi drivers claimed that they had been threatened and forced to drop off passengers to escape further recriminations.
Using the service’s internal radio frequencies, other cabs were warned to avoid the intersection.
More seriously, a bus driver in Corrientes alleged that his vehicle was attacked with rocks by UTA delegates, almost injuring one passenger. According to the operator, thugs had forced him to stop on the way back to the service’s terminal – where he planned to leave the bus in order to comply with the strike – and threatened to set fire to the unit if he continued on the route.
Speaking during the strike, the UTA’s Fernández defended his union’s action and asserted that the measures were a result of the government’s failure to discuss issues.
“This situation was created by the government, it’s been 40 days since we said we wanted to sit down and talk about this problem in order to avoid an industrial dispute,” said Fernández.
“We’re only defending a right. It’s the government that must come up with a solution,” he insisted in conversation with Radio del Plata.
Barrionuevo, meanwhile, struck a more forceful tone as he directed fierce criticism at Economy minister Axel Kicillof. Last week, Kicillof defended the official stance on the matter, saying the income tax floor “was fine,” recalling it was raised two years ago and that it only affects a small number of workers.
«[Aníbal Fernández] met with the transport committee and first of all he talked to [CGT leader Antonio] Caló saying I will meet with you, but then the ‘little Russian’ had no answer for what they were asking for,» the CGT blue and white leader fired, referring to Kicillof with a colloquial term for those of Jewish ancestry.
«They all call him the little Russian, it is he who tells you yes or no. He knows that 25 billion pesos, the money which belongs to workers, is a massive movement of money away from consumption, it helps them [the government] pay social plans and subsidise other pet projects. They have cash problems,» he emphasised.
Unions have been insistently demanding a rise in the income tax floor, which is now set at 15,000 pesos (some US$1,700), as well as an expansion of family benefits and more state grants for union-run health care schemes.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald