Argentine union leader confesses he never believed in the “official inflation rate”

Argentina’s Metal workers union (UOM) leader Antonio Caló said on Thursday he “never believed in the (official stats office) Indec” and openly estimated that inflation in the country is running at “23% to 24%”.

Caló. Our union has its own stats office and inflation is running from 23% to 24%

“I never believed in the Indec figures, not now nor when Central Bank Resolution 1050 which allowed banks to take over workers homes”, said Caló interviewed by a local Buenos Aires radio.

Resolution 1050 allowed banks to grant credits with no before hand agreement on interest rates and would let banks apply market rates, at a time when hyperinflation was a common phenomenon in Argentina.

The mention of resolution 1050 has a double significance and is a strong political message since opposition sectors coincide that the origin of the Nestor and Cristina Kirchner’s fortune is precisely this resolution.

The fact it that one of the first jobs of the Kirchner couple at a solicitors’ office was to ensure payments of loans granted under R 1050.

Following his mention of R 1050 Caló insisted that he does not believe in the official Indec inflation rate and revealed that the UOM has its own stats office which measures the “purchasing power of salaries” from union members and which are the basis for wage negotiations with the industry.

“This year we asked for a 24% increase because we believe this year’s inflation rate is going to be in that range, 23% to 24%”, said the metal workers union boss and who is disputing with Hugo Moyano control of Argentine organized labour umbrella organization CGT.

“We have always been willing to reach a deal with Moyano. Now we are on different paths but at some point we will have to join forces: we must think in the whole workers movement”, added Caló.

However “we are not willing to become an opposition CGT; the governments of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner have been very supportive of labour. CGT must not be on the opposition, we must try dialogue”.

However Caló said he had “the same agenda” as Moyano. “All workers must collect family allowance, no matter whatever they make; that is our first demand”, insisted Caló who next October will be participating in a unions’ congress to organize a parallel CGT to that one under the leadership of Hugo Moyano.

Argentine pro-government unions don’t trust Cristina’s stats and official inflation

Despite having managed to split organized labour and declared war on its most powerful exponent the teamsters boss Hugo Moyano, the government of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez still has to deal with its unconvincing stats office and rampant inflation.

Anti-Moyano union leaders meet with Cristina Fernandez Anti-Moyano union leaders meet with Cristina Fernandez

Labour leaders who oppose the powerful CGT chief Hugo Moyano met on Monday with Cristina Fernandez at Government House but in spite of the good chemistry, they did not yield in the issue and said they did not trust the official stats from the government’s Statistics and Census Institute, Indec.

“I don’t believe in the Indec at all” said Andres Rogriguez head of the public employees union who revealed that at the meeting with the president in Casa Rosada “we were not specific about any issue, but rather the door was opened for negotiations on current and pending issues in the near future”.

“We’re not going to pull the rope, so it breaks” said Rodriguez after stating that in discussions with government “you need to be cautious”. Formally the anti Moyano union leaders that met with Cristina Fernandez talked about labour movement’s demand for a higher income taxing floor, making family allowances universal and the recovery of part of the unions’ social works funds.

The reference to Indec coincides with the demands from Moyano and the CGT who on taking office for another period as chairman anticipated the labour organization would elaborate its own cost of living index to keep track of real inflation, “and not the government’s manicured index”.

“We left the meeting very satisfied” said Rodríguez. President Cristina Fernandez promised the dissident labour leaders a “normalizing” election of CGT for next 3 October and that in August the government would convene all sides to begin talks on the minimum, vital and mobile salary. The unions have advanced they will be demanding a 25% increase for the minimum salary.

Rodriguez said he has no problem in aligning with the government of Cristina Fernandez and accepted to be included in an “official CGT” which will be contrary to Moyano and his CGT.

“The official government line does not bother me; we support in general what we consider a positive model for the workers, but there are pending issues such as including unregistered workers. We’re here not for labels but working for solutions”, said Rodriguez.

'Moyano's power is starting to wither,' Pichetto

The head of the Kirchnerite Junta bloc in the Senate Miguel Ángel Pichetto, spoke today in heavy criticism of secretary-general of the CGT umbrella union Hugo Moyano, and said that “he had more power before marching to the square than after,” referring to Wednesday’s mass rally to the Plaza de Mayo.

“With regard to the rally, frankly it was completely unnecessary. The strike was politically fuelled, paying attention to union demands that had already been settled in wage talks,” Pichetto continued.

“Moyano’s role in the CGT with regard to his leadership is starting to weaken.” (SW - The is no proof to show his leadership is weakening, in fact its the exact opposite)

Furthermore, the Victory Front lawmaker stated that “the head of the CGT needs to be on the same side as the Government.”

The remarks made by Pichetto were in reference to the mass rally Hugo Moyano led to the Plaza de Mayo on Wednesday where his faction of the CGT went out to defend the wage income tax that they wanted changed for civil servants.

“Test of strengths” shows Moyano is capable of challenging Cristina Fernandez

The two call for dialogue but at the same time argue they are victims of extortion so it is difficult to see reconciliation, rather as escalation of the confrontation between President Cristina Fernandez and organized labour chief Hugo Moyano, particularly following on Wednesday national strike and rally at Plaza de Mayo.

According to analyst Fraga, the rift can be expected to widen.

Rosendo Fraga, one of Argentina’s main political analyst and historian in a column in La Nacion writes that the “test of strengths” has shown that Moyano, who had seen his power eroded to the hands of CFK electoral success and plotting to divide the labour movement with Wednesday’s rally is capable of putting up a strong resistance although not necessarily to grow an alternative.

Furthermore, according to Fraga dialogue negotiations are not in the genetics of Cristina Kirchner’s way of thinking and strategy, which only comes to confirm the growing distance between the two leaders.

On the Moyano side the personal attacks from the organized labour chief and his son Pablo, head of the teamsters regarding the origin of the Kirchner couple wealth and their activities during the last Argentine military dictatorship, far from closing the gap, further open it.

Moyano the only speaker at the rally, as union chief and not as political leader, recalled that in Argentina during the military regime there were those who sought exile in other countries and others “who took refuge in Patagonia”, while many of those who now make up the current administration, kept quiet and hid under their beds. “Workers and union leaders meantime were fighting to help recover democracy and restoration of human rights”.

Even when Argentine unions’ tactics have been to push, push and then negotiate, Fraga says “this is not working now, and looking ahead most probably the conflict not only will continue but will escalate”.

Moyano has called for a new support demonstration in two weeks time, July 12 in coincidence with the CGT congress that should re-elect him but most probably will be ignored by the Ministry of Labour and his unions’ adversaries.

And “the most probable division of the labour umbrella organization CGT will make it more difficult and not easier for a rebuild of the broken relation between Moyano and the Casa Rosada”

However with Moyano as the only speaker the rally was essentially a workers protest in spite of the fact through the social network most of the anti-K forces from farmers to opposition members of parliament were convened but were not to be seen.

At the end of the day “Moyano must realize he has shown to have the necessary strength to resist but yet not, to grow. On the Cristina Fernandez side it must be aware of this fact and that the rapidly changing economic situation for the worse will only further boost political and social conflicts” concludes Fraga.

“Only a few months ago the government strategists believed they could win placing Moyano as the enemy, but now that does not seem so clear”.

Moyano accuses Whore Cristina Fernandez of arrogance, extortion and keeping workers’ monies

Argentina’s chief of the powerful CGT Labour Confederation Hugo Moyano blasted President Cristina Fernandez and her government during a massive rally Wednesday in the heart of Buenos Aires at the highly symbolic Plaza de Mayo.

The mass rally attracted 50.000 say union leaders, 25.000 according to the police and traffic chaos in Buenos Aires.

Moyano was particularly incisive on the government's approach toward workers and accused President Cristina Fernández administration of “extortion” and of “keeping workers' money”.

With his back turned towards the Government House and in front of some 50.000 workers (according to the teamsters union) or 25.000 (according to the police), Moyano slammed the president and accused her of being “too proud, arrogant” and of “acting as if she were in a dictatorship,” far from the supposed “national and popular” values of Peronism.

“Some think they can replace Perón and Eva Perón and that is absolute insanity,” he stated, adding that Peronism “is not empty words but actual accomplishments.”

But Moyano also called for dialogue and unity and said relations with the government are broken because “government gave its back to the workers movement and ceased to talk to workers’ unions”.

However he also attacked the Kirchner couple, probably in retaliation for rumours spread by Government House indicating that during the military dictatorship the union leader was a member of a “gang of paid goons that hunted dissidents”.

The union leader said he couldn’t remember him doing such a thing much less for a military dictatorship, and the pictures “shown are hard to distinguish a slim, black haired, handsome Moyano”.

But at the time yes “there were many Argentines who had to run for exile, many overseas but some to Patagonia, where they made a lot of money with foreclosures of people’s homes unable to pay their mortgages based on a vicious piece of resolution, number 1050, to be more exact, that left many Argentine workers without homes and helpless under the military dictatorship”.

Similarly many faces “I see in this administration I remember that at the time they were silent or hiding under the bed, while we workers were fighting for our rights, the return of democracy and human rights”.

The CGT leader was the only speaker at the rally during the national strike in Argentina led by the teamsters union and others allied to the umbrella unions’ organization CGT, as they demanded a hike on the income tax floor and the expansion of coverage for the universal child allowance.

“Isn’t keeping the workers’ money an extortion?” he wondered, and assured that many workers had complained about being pressured into not joining the strike.

“They keep your money, comrades,” he said as he fired up the crowds in front of him. “I hope they are not using that money to subsidize bingos or casinos,” he added.

He urged the President to “leave arrogance behind” and work “humbly” in order to accept a dialogue with the workers’ movement so they can engage in an “exchange of opinions” and finding solutions that are not imposed but agreed upon.

Furthermore, Moyano emphasized “how can it be that a government that is supposedly democratic act in this way?” How come “we are living in a country where the workers are being attacked by its government?”

The downtown area of Buenos Aires City was filled to the brim with union members carrying out marches from across various different sectors, grouping together to attend the mass rally led by top teamster and CGT boss.

Because of the massive demonstration Buenos Aires City suffered traffic chaos throughout the course of the day, due to the roadblocks in place ahead and during the mass rally.

On Tuesday during a televised speech at the Government House, President Cristina Fernández criticized Moyano and said that Border Guards would not be deployed to patrol the Plaza de Mayo during the CGT rally. Wednesday morning, however, some police presence was in place at Plaza de Mayo as well as some members of the riot police.

Argentine The begining of the End - First organized labour national strike challenges President Cristina Fernandez

For the first time in decades the powerful Argentine organized labour movement has confirmed it is going ahead with a much debated national strike against a Peronist government, which allegedly rests on support precisely from the unions and a long history of generous labour legislation.

Moyano: Why can’t a worker and union leader become Argentine president?

Organized labour chief Hugo Moyano called the strike to demand a higher floor for the income tax scale, a lower income roof for access to family allowance, plus to protest what they consider a deviation of president Cristina Fernandez administration which has taken distance from the unions and has been particularly critical of organized labour involved not in strikes, but “extortion and blackmail” to the benefit of a “few privileged” which ends being paid by the Treasury and taxpayers.

Wednesday’s strike with a massive protest march to the iconic Plaza de Mayo in downtown Buenos Aires next to Government House marks an inflection point from when back in 2003, newly elected Nestor Kirchner (and second best because his first contender stepped down) stretched out to Moyano and his unions to help him put Argentina back on its feet.

Moyano and his crucial teamsters union played a leading role and although it was evident that Kirchner and Moyano were only forced partners they learnt to live together. But all changed when Cristina Fernandez rising star made her president and her husband died in 2010. The Kirchner couple was already increasingly fearful of the man who wielded so much power and was always asking for a match to his efforts.

With a prosperous and steaming economy all was fine and liveable but then the unorthodox policies of the Kirchner couple helped to sow the seeds of a huge snow ball of contained prices either forcibly or through subsidies, which has not impeded inflation now running at an average 25%, (in spite of the official less than two digits) and thus the formal demands and motive of Wednesday’s protest.

But Moyano and Cristina Fernandez have also a personal clash. She is determined to clip his wings and dependency, which she managed well with a booming economy and a 54% re-election vote last October which made her supreme and for a few months untouchable.

Furthermore in the run-up to the election CFK ‘betrayed’ the Peronist movement since she personally named the list of Deputies to the Lower House, ignoring organized labour’s share and replacing them with more potable “fresh faces” that respond to family and close allies such as La Campora grouping under the guidance of her only son Maximo Kirchner.

This further infuriated Moyano who had also had manifestations of arrogance when he repeatedly stated that, as in Brazil, “why can’t an Argentine worker and union leader be elected Argentine president?” let us say in 2015, when CFK time is over and obviously who else but who dared the question.

And as the Argentine economy looses steam because of the global slowdown and many domestic errors, a past of mutual smiles and praise turned sour with Cristina Fernandez openly conspiring to have Moyano ousted as head of the organized labour CGT in the coming July leadership elections. She started giving special attention and favours to Moyano dissenters while blaming the “privileged union leaders” who never suffer from strikes and have comfortable access to the unions’ social funds.

Moyano challenged the Argentine president to stamp her signature to the demands of the workers (higher floor for income tax and lower roof for family allowances) in exchange for him not running for re-election as top unions’ leader.

With a Treasury already particularly tight, less revenue and higher expenditure would only help to further bloat the budget and spur inflation and thus further complicating CFK and the chances of a mid term comeback for Moyano.

Through his son Pablo who succeeded him a teamsters union leader, Moyano found an excuse to force a three days fuel distribution strike with trucks surrounding refineries and impeding any movement. Cristina on a world lecturing tour in the UN for the Falklands/Malvinas debate; in Mexico for the G20 summit and then in Brazil for Rio+20 had to cut short the last leg and return.

There were some scuffles at a refinery with the Gendarmerie trying to break the siege but the bosses of one of the many teamsters’ branches which were in conflict caved in and granted 25% salary increase, a few points short from what was demanded.

And Wednesday is now the great challenge. Moyano insisted in the heat up that “while the Government answered the worker’s claims, the relation was normal. Then the Government stopped answering to the workers’ claims and the relationship ended“. He promised to pack-full Plaza de Mayo with over 150.000 workers making their demands heard.

In anticipation of the big day, the Argentine president Cristina Fernandez in an hour long national televised conference on Tuesday further criticized Moyano saying “one can see that other sectors have been able to resolve their conflicts without confrontation, extortion or blackmail”.

She added that in Argentina of the 9 million registered workers (out of a population of 40 million which means many remain unregistered) only 19% pay income tax, the remaining 81% don’t make it to the minimum floor. “Striking for a privileged 19% does not seem very much workers’ solidarity”, so on these numbers “you can seat and wait”.

CFK went on to say that it was time for Argentina to address “this habit of preaching and practicing socialism with the monies of the State and the rest of the people, and became a fundamentalist liberal when they pick your pocket, particularly if you want people to keep calling you Peronist”

The President also referred to the labour protests that disrupted operations at Argentina’s biggest oil field, Cerro Dragón, in Patagonia in which workers carried out blockades along Chubut province roads, to which border guards were deployed in order to control the situation.

On the way back from containing the unrest in Chubut, the two coaches carrying the border guards crashed head-on with a lorry carrying cereal bundles, killing at least 14 people, including eight guards plus dozens injured.

“With that type of protests and strikes with confrontations you wanted a martyr for your cause, well unfortunately there you have them eight guards doing their duties and helping to restore heating gas to homes in winter”.

Finally Cristina Fernandez said that on Wednesday during the rally no federal, special, riot of metropolitan police forces will be deployed in Plaza de Mayo and surroundings, only the usual guards at Government House. The decision could make shops and businesses in downtown shut their windows for the day according to interviews in the Buenos Aires television.

Moyano replied saying that the CGT will have their own security groups deployed, but if any thing happens “we all know who’s responsibility that is, the federal government”, and “we will take them to court”.

Precisely 37 years ago, in the same square but on a Friday June 27, the CGT organized a massive demonstration against a Peronist government then headed by the widow and successor of Juan Domingo Peron, Isabelita Peron. The protest was triggered by a draconian readjustment of prices: fuel went up 180%, the dollar soared 150% and public utility rates 100%.

The huge rally caused the immediate sacking of the Economy minister and a few days later of Peron’s valet, the notorious Jose Lopez Rega who had become the main advisor of President Isabel Peron and was identified as the Rasputin of the regime. Argentina at the time was also harvesting ten years of interrupted growth but dilapidated with a bloated budget and subsidies that ended crushing the real economy.

Players are different, there is more talent and maturity, political dialogue is more civilized and the economic circumstances of Argentina according to some of the top economists of the country are still manageable. Furthermore democratic values are well rooted, there is ample freedom of expression and free press and the country survived two anticipated transitions: in 1989 and again in 2002.

Nevertheless it helps the mind recall that on 27 June 1975, a huge labour strike and protest in Plaza de Mayo against an exhausted Peronist government weakened the whole institutional framework that less than a year later succumbed to one of the cruellest military regimes in recent history.