Top Argentine union calls general strike on April 10

BUENOS AIRES

Argentina's biggest trade union has  called for a general strike on April 10 to condemn a police crackdown on a protest last week in support of pensioners, during which 45 people were injured.

The general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Hector Daer, said the strikers would also demand an emergency raise in pensions and an end to the freeze on public works imposed by Milei over the last 15 months, among other measures.

"From midnight on the 10th, a 24-hour strike," Daer told a press conference.

The work stoppage will be the third of its kind since the libertarian Milei came to power in December 2023, waving a chainsaw as a symbol of his plans to slash public spending and tame runaway inflation.

Pensioners have suffered the most under Milei's harsh austerity measures, which plunged Argentina into a deep recession for most of 2024 but led to a dramatic slowdown in price increases.

Pension increases having fallen far short of inflation over the past year, leading to a sharp decline in retirees' living conditions, made worse by the government's decision to scrap price controls on medicines.

Last week, numerous football fans joined pensioners at a protest outside parliament, which ended in running battles with the police in which over 120 people were arrested.

A photojournalist was critically injured.

The government has labeled the rioters "hooligans" and accused them of "sedition."