Huelgas en Argentina interrumpen la vida diaria

Continuing conflicts add to frustration

By Colin McMahon

Chicago Tribune

Posted August 7 2005

BUENOS AIRES · If it's Thursday, the train workers must be on strike. Or maybe the nurses, or the pilots, or the teachers. Or all of them at once

On any given day in Argentina lately, some group somewhere seems to be striking for higher pay, more jobs or better working conditions. And it's exasperating even for those Argentines sympathetic to the legions of workers who have seen their purchasing power slashed by the nation's economic collapse.

"These strikes have always gone on, but there are more now," said Maria Paredes, a 36-year-old nanny. "For working people like us this is a total mess, especially for those of us who have to make it on time."

Paredes was killing time Thursday evening waiting for service to resume on the Mitre train line, which takes her from her home in Bernal to her job in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano.

The strike derailed the estimated 1.8 million people who ride the nation's train lines daily, and it made a muddle of traffic in Buenos Aires. People seeking alternative transportation endured long lines for buses and taxis. And highways snarled with 250,000 extra cars on the road, about a quarter more than usual, according to government estimates.

The strike was supposed to go on all night, but President Nestor Kirchner appealed to the leaders of La Fraternidad, which called Thursday's strike, and the union went back to work almost in time for the evening rush.

Passengers were relieved, but wary. Even as they lifted the strike, union leaders threatened another one, this time for 36 hours, in the coming week.

Striking airline pilots and airport workers have grounded thousands of domestic and international flights in recent weeks. Teachers have canceled university classes. Hospital workers have delayed surgeries and redirected patients. Court workers have disrupted trials and other judicial business. And that's not to mention the roving bands of pickets who regularly block streets, businesses and public buildings to air a litany of political and economic grievances.

Like all those groups, the train conductors and machinists who struck Thursday can make a sympathetic case for their demands. Union leaders say members have been losing ground against inflation since 1991, with the hardest times coming after Argentina's economy collapsed in 2001-2002. La Fraternidad is Latin America's oldest labor group, founded in 1887 in Buenos Aires. Its leaders are demanding a monthly base salary of 1,820 pesos, or a little more than $600. The rail companies are offering 1,500 pesos.

Union leaders say the company's offer, while a significant raise, falls short in a country where inflation has crept into the double digits and households still have not recovered from the drastic devaluation of the peso.

At Garrahan hospital, the main pediatric care center in Argentina, families are worried that an intermittent strike by nurses and other medical professionals will cost someone's life.

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