Chile’s key trade union, CUT (Central unica de trabajadores) called its members for a national day of action on Thursday April 16, which was successful throughout the country. The participants, from the private and the public sector, were notably protesting against businesses’ abuses, using the economic crisis to lay people off or trim wages and workers’ rights. The union wants the government to develop a bill slowing dismissals. The demonstrators also rejected Chilean employers’ request to freeze minimum wage in 2009. Osvaldo Andrade, former Minister of Labor, joined the protestors in criticizing this request. The government, using Minister of Labor Mauricio Jelvez as a spokesman, announced that it completely rejected “such an alternative which limits households’ buying power.” However, the CUT also presented an altogether different claim: it wants the removal of the ban for union members to apply for Parliamentary terms, a rule coming from Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. The union presented this national strike as the beginning of “a long social mobilization process.”
g power.” However, the CUT also presented an altogether different claim: it wants the removal of the ban for union members to apply for Parliamentary terms, a rule coming from Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. The union presented this national strike as the beginning of “a long social mobilization process.”
Planet Labor, April 20, 2009, No. 090425 – www.planetlabor.com
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