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The Administration of the libertarian Javier Milei faces this Wednesday, January 24, its first national strike organized by unions, social movements and political spaces, which oppose the reforms promoted by the president through the so-called “Bases Law” and the Decree of Necessity and Urgency 70/23. It will also be the third mobilization against the Government since its arrival on December 10.
The last national strike that Argentina experienced was in 2019 during the Administration of former President Mauricio Macri, who faced five general strikes organized by the unions. Now, the Government of Javier Milei, which came to the Presidency of the country almost 45 days ago, measures its forces with the General Labor Central (CGT) and the Self-Employed Workers Central (CTA), which are the organizers of the demonstration. this January 24th.
Both workers' confederations, which bring together different unions, expressed their discontent towards the deregulation policy of the Milei government, which through the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 70/23 and the “Bases Law” (popularly known as Omnibus Law due to the number of articles it has), seeks to implement important changes in the economy and national politics.
In addition, the unions oppose the implementation of the so-called 'personal income tax', which is the old income tax, which each worker had to pay based on a certain amount they received in salary. The Milei Administration seeks that this new tax be paid by those who earn a salary greater than 1,300,000 Argentine pesos.
The strike will be for 12 hours, from noon to midnight, many areas of the economy will be affected. For example, according to the local press, the stoppage in national air transport will affect more than 20,000 users.
In the last few hours it was learned that the basic law or “omnibus law”, the star project of Javier Milei's Executive, will begin its processing in the Chamber of Deputies this Thursday, after the ruling party achieved the ruling of majority in the plenary commissions, thanks to the support of various opposition forces.
After six debate sessions in the plenary session of commissions during the last two weeks, La Libertad Avanza – Milei's far-right force that has only 38 deputies of the 257 in the Lower House – achieved the majority ruling with 55 signatures , although 34 of them were in partial dissent (that is, in disagreement with some articles).
A down economy
All of this occurs in the midst of a complex economic scenario that the South American country is experiencing, involved in a crisis with high levels of inflation and poverty.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), as of December 2023, the country registered an interannual inflation of 211.4%, becoming the country in the world with the highest inflation, and surpassing Venezuela, which for many years led the ranking of the highest inflation.
According to Indec, Argentina has 40.1% of its population below the poverty line, and around 30% of households in urban areas are in vulnerable conditions.
Meanwhile, the country does not register a high unemployment rate, closing the third quarter at 5.7%, compared to 6.2% in the previous quarter.
With EFE and local media
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