Trade-Unions & Power

Power corrupts. Ever since the return of a more "populist" style of presidency, trade-unions have been accumulating more and more power. It is, after all, one of the most direct ways for a president to make many workers happy at once. Whenever the balance of power in Argentina shifted towards the workers (usually, in presence of leftish governments), trade-union leaders have risen to the occasion and tried to snatch whatever power was available.

Inflation has added volatility to the alreadty turbulent environment created by a messy devaluation. It was the "asymetric" devaluation, unfair to most people and favorable to few, that validated the society's right to complain. The 2001-2002 cacerolazos were the result of many years of silence and economic recession, added to the restraints on money availability and ultimately confiscation of deposits (2,014 such manifestations between Dec '01 and March '02, as reported by Rosendo Fraga in www.nuevamayoria.com). But, as external favorable conditions became the wind beneath the economy's wings, and as opportune fiscal decisions taxed exports and restored fiscal health, the middle class returned silently to work.

Who remained behind? 3 groups mainly: the cartoneros, usually poor people picking up paper and cardboard and becoming part of the recycling chain; the piqueteros, a more extreme group of chronically-unemployed and semi-anarquists demanding state subsidies and usually unwilling to work, and a third group which appeared as the piqueteros lost their initial charme: trade unions. A more careful analysis might lead us to understand that trade-unions might well be ex-piqueteros or cartoneros, who now found a job and a new raison-d'etre. Others might have been there all along, waiting for the chance to re-claim the streets. However it may be, the truth of the matter is that 2005 saw more than 800 trade-union related claims, and 2006 close to 500. 90% of public manifestations cutting off roads came from groups other than piqueteros, who used to have monopoly of road-blocks.

The peso's devaluation and rising inflation gave unions the reasons they needed to make demands: workers need to recover purchasing power. In other words, we want increases above and beyond official inflation. This certainly created a problem for the government, also keen on keeping an eye on inflation in spite of its consumption-boosting, peso-flooding policies. As union leaders got closer to the government (Hugo Moyano, for instance, in photo below with President Kirchner), conflicts led to higher and more significant concessions in return for social peace. The government had promised business-owners that they would make money on larger quantities sold and not on higher prices, and having road-blocks and such certainly affected sales, so the government could not have that either. Also, as increases were negotiated with certain unions, others wanted the same or better conditions, which led to more manifestations. And, at the end of the day, white-collar workers alse needed rises to maintain basic relationships between white and blue collar salaries.

Companies are caught in the middle with higher labor costs and a rising demand for their products, at irrational prices sometimes. What to do? Increase prices, and face the government's anger (happened to Shell a few months ago). Do not increase prices and facec uneconomic results, even bankruptcy. The answer: a lot of creativity on behalf of businessmen and a lot of ingenuity from the government, thinking that they can fool all of the people all of the time.

Power corrupts. Inflation helps to create the proper conditions for strikes, road-blocks, public protest and ultimately corruption of the culture of hard work and sacrifice.

A Culture of Protest

Argentina has a deep-rooted culture of protests. I am too young to know when it started, but old enough to know it has a horrible effect on a country's image. I remember watching TV a few years ago and seeing tourist walking to and from the airport (Ezeiza Int'l Airport), just because there was a protest and cars were not allowed to approach the airport. Old people carrying bags and complaninig. Spanish tourists saying they will never return. Then again, they might have come here just to do some cheap shopping, but that does not give us any reason to overhaul their security and basic rights.

Still, it seems we simply don't care. During 2006, protesters of all sorts bloqued roads 817 times. Almost 3 times a day (if you count weekends). Crazy. However, well below 2005, when roads were cut almost 1200 times during the year (by the way, almost half of the number of 2002, year of crisis in Argentina). And where are the rest of the people's rights? I mean, if you block the road and I want to cross it, you are manifesting your constitutional right to express yourself but I am not allowed "free transit" among Argentinean soil. However, after the 2002 incident which cost Eduardo Duhalde an early call to elections, during the portests which ended with some policemen killing youngsters Kosteki and Santillán, no one has had a taste for police repression. In fact, laissez-faire seems to be at the ordre du jour. Although it might buy Presidents time, it hurts the rest of the population a lot. We feel vulnerable. Unprotected. We are driven against the government by its own inaction. And that is never good for either side of the equation.

Any reason is a good reason to protest: lately, it has been higher salaries (the President's province has been "taken" by hords of people roaming the streets, and he has solved it ordering 3 salary increases in a year), it has also happened as result of a struggle for political control (UBA, Carlos Pellegrini school) and it continues as protests against certain government measures that minority groups dislike (i.e., Quebracho). It's not that I am totally against protest: I feel the cacerolazos (kitchen-pan) protests after the crisis should have been more widespread and far-reaching than they were, and so were protests against insecurity; but there is a limit to protest. When it becomes the standard way of asking for things, it might mean that there is something rotten in the way things work.

Worst of all is when people get results blocking roads and so on, it generates a belief that so doing is the only way of getting things done. And that is a dangerous road to go down, since we might end up going around the right way of protesting, which is carefully electing our representatives and removing them when they failed to keep their promises. So, I guess it's a matter of thinking with out heads and realizing that a careful, rational vote will take us further than a street protest which ultimately destroys country equity by making it a worse place to visit for tourists and to live in for locals.

We should keep this exceptional manner of protesting for times when it's really necessary. Otherwise, it becomes just like the story of the boy who always cried wolf ...