Significance: The Macri administration faces a growing challenge from Argentina’s trade union movement. It struck an uneasy alliance with Hugo Moyano, Pablo’s father and the leader of one of the three factions of the country’s main trade unions, the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), after coming to power in December last year. Although Hugo Moyano was openly opposed to the previous administration led by former president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015), the alliance with Macri swiftly turned sour in the wake of public sector dismissals, mounting inflation and sharp increases in fuel prices and energy tariffs. Hugo Moyano, who leads the CGT-Azopardo faction, has been holding talks with the secretary general of CGT-Alsina faction, Antonio Caló, and the leader of the CGT-Azul y Blanco faction, Luis Barrionuevo, about plans to unify the disparate umbrella union, as well as whether to call a general strike.
• The leaders of the three CGT factions have each nominated candidates to head a new-look CGT during a unification ceremony scheduled to take place on 22 August, when Hugo Moyano has agreed to step down. But there are some disagreements within the movement about the proposed triumvirate.
• On 5 August the three leaders will present a document entitled ‘From bad to worse’, which is expected to be fiercely critical of the economic policies of the Macri administration. It will stress that Argentine workers are “patiently waiting for the famous second half”. This is a reference to Macri’s promise that inflation will come down in the second half of 2016 and the domestic economy would return to an even keel by then.
Looking Ahead: The unification of the CGT would pose a threat for the Macri administration as it could really make its presence felt in planned protest and strike action. Non-Peronist governments in Argentina have traditionally encountered serious difficulties from the country’s powerful trade union movement and Macri would rather it remained divided. Argentina’s other main umbrella union, the Central de los Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA), is currently itself split into two factions.
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