In Argentina with under two weeks to go before the presidential elections on 25 October the various different central trade union bodies are assessing the challenges that lie ahead during the collective negotiations that will take place under the new government. Issues including wage indexation with currently rampant inflation (around 20%), jobs protection with both regional and global economic pictures deteriorating, and restricting the amount of undeclared work (in the third quarter of 2014 Indec (National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina) estimated that 34% of the active labor force was undeclared). In this strategic campaigning period, some of the union leaders have been choosing allegiances. Hugo Moyano, leader of the dissident CGT has shown his support for the rightwing candidate Mauricio Macri, mayor of Buenos Aires, the central CTA union has openly supported center-left Cristina Kirchner’s successor. Cristina Kirchner has completed her constitutional maximum two consecutive terms of office and her successor Daniel Scioli has been put forward by the CTA leader Hugo Yasky. The central dissident Autonomous-CTA has decided not to support any specific candidate and instead is multiplying the number of meetings it is holding with the presidential hopefuls in order to gauge the layout of the future political landscape. Here, Planet Labor interviews its general secretary, Pablo Micheli.
- What are the most important measures you are hoping for during the next mandate?
Pablo Micheli. To start with, dialogue with the social partners. In the past years, president Cristina Kirchner has tackled all the major themes in a unilateral fashion. When she did actually implement a formal type of framework she did so in consultation with organizations (trade unions) that were completely under her control. This is why negotiations over the famous workers’ crusade for a minimum wage actually turned into an empty vessel.
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