https://socialistaction.org/2017/12/20/pension-reform-bill-greeted-by-mass-protests/
Pension reform bill greeted by mass protests in Argentina
/ 1 day ago
Jan. 2017 Argent. protest
By JUAN CRUZ FERRE
On Dec. 19, Argentina’s congress passed a drastic pension reform bill in
a 128-116 vote. As debate on the vote was proceeding, the country’s
largest union federation, the CGT, engaged in a 24-hour general strike,
which closed down large sections of Buenos Aires. Below, we reprint an
earlier article from the on-line journal Left Voice.
After a brief spring following October elections, Mauricio Macri’s
right-wing government faces the deepest crisis and most concerted
opposition since he took office in 2015.
The October 22 midterm elections saw a reassertion of the ruling
coalition Cambiemos (“Let’s Change”), which obtained 42 percent of the
popular vote at the national level. Peronism, in all its variants,
received an unambiguous blow throughout the country. Most importantly,
former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK), running as
candidate for senator for the province of Buenos Aires, came in second
after Cambiemos’ candidate Esteban Bulrich. The lackluster performance
demolished CFK’s aspirations to unite Peronism behind her leadership.
With the ostensible legitimation of his mandate, and the main force in
the opposition in shambles, Mauricio Macri felt he had green light to go
forward with all “necessary” reforms. From his point of view, the same
point of view of capital, Argentina needs a reduction in labor costs to
recover ‘competitiveness’. This was one of the directions graciously
recommended by the International Monetary Fund during its last visit to
Argentina, a week after the elections. We know how the story goes.
Cheaper products sell better in the global market, so workers need to
tighten their belts and lower their expectations: that’s the only way to
save the economy.
The labor reform, was poised to spark the hefty opposition from the more
militant unions. Additionally, a wing within the thoroughly bureaucratic
CGT (General Labor Federation) withdrew its support. The bill was tabled
until next year.
A pillage of retirees and the poor
Another item in IMF’s recipe, which Macri’s government will follow to
the letter, was a reduction in government spending on social security.
The constituencies affected by a slash on social security do not
necessarily have the same mobilization capacity that organized labor can
boast. The strategy was, thus, to attack the weaker.
If passed, the pension reform will affect 17 million retirees and
beneficiaries of the welfare program Asignación Universal por Hijo
(AUH), a conditional cash transfer for poor families with children. The
proposed bill would put in place a new method to adjust pensions to
inflation, substantially reducing the final income. With the new
formula, the 2017 bi-annual increase would be reduced from 12% to 5.7%.
The bill swiftly received the approving stamp in the Senate and moved to
the Lower House. Cambiemos ostensibly had the support of Peronists in
the House of Deputies to convert it into law. In late November,
governors of 23 provinces (all but one) signed an agreement with the
federal government that included an increase for provinces in the share
of national revenues. In exchange for this favor, governors committed,
among other things, to secure the support for the pension reform bill
for those representatives who politically respond to their leadership.
Round two
However, when the bill was brought to the floor on Thursday, December
14, the support withered drastically. Mass mobilizations outside
Congress by unions, students organizations and political forces
tarnished the session inside the Parliament. A simmering tension became
outright scandal when a heavily militarized gendarmerie repressed the
protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas: the Plaza Congreso turned
into a battlefield.
The session had to be postponed to early this week, but the damage was
done. The government’s popularity began a free fall.
Jan. 2017 Argent. cops
Police shoot tear gas at Buenos Aires protesters. Natacha Pisarenko / AP
This Monday, December 18 tens of thousands gathered again in the square
across from Congress to protest the passing of the bill. Several unions
called to mobilize in front of Congress. Even the CGT threatened to call
a general strike if the bill were to pass.
Around noon, several thousand people packed Plaza Congreso and
overflowed Avenida de Mayo and other streets in contact with the square.
The police cracked down on protesters, leaving dozens of injured and
over 40 people arrested and detained. Protesters responded hurling
stones at the cops–a battle on the streets ensued again.
In the evening, groups of people spontaneously took to the streets
throughout the city to express discontent banging pots and pans. These
cacerolazos (from “cacerola” = pot), reminiscent of the economic debacle
and political crisis of 2001, mushroomed across neighborhoods in several
cities. At the moment of writing this lines, thousands of protesters
coming from different cacerolazos converged outside Congress. Inside the
building, the debate continued with no clear end.
Congressman for the Left and Workers Front (FIT) Nicolas del Caño,
denounced the repression on the streets and called the bill a “pillage
to the retiree and the poor.” Other congressmen repudiated the
repression, but the outcome is still far from certain. Having 108 seats
over a total of 257, the ruling Cambiemos depends on the support of a
significant number of members from the opposition–overwhelmingly
belonging to different wings of Peronism–to pass the bill.
In a most unexpected turn, the attempt to ram the pension reform through
Congress sparked a popular backlash that shows Macri’s fragile rule. The
specter of December 2001 looms large in the collective consciousness,
and the protests are not going anywhere.
The original article can be found at:
http://www.leftvoice.org/pension-reform-mobilizations-buenos-aires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZwkBwW3KiU
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December 20, 2017 in Latin America. Tags: Argentina
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