Vol.61/No.31 September 15, 1997
Workers Push Back Antilabor Laws In Argentina
In order to avoid a major confrontation with the labor
movement, the government of Argentine president Carlos Menem
decided August 26 to postpone debate on new antilabor laws
until after the October parliamentary elections. Just days
earlier, Finance Minister Roque Fernández had threatened
that the laws would be imposed by decree if the legislature
didn't act on them. A one-day strike paralyzed much of the
country August 14, as workers demanded a halt to government
austerity and denounced the antilabor bills. Above,
demonstrators run after setting fire to a bus in La Plata
during the August 14 work stoppage. Even the main union
federation, the General Labor Federation (CGT) that
generally backs Menem and had not supported the August 14
protests, threatened to strike if the antilabor legislation
was imposed by decree.
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