Boy this is fun! Ok well, it's a pain in the ass, to be perfectly honest. But this sort of stuff doesn't happen like this back home. It's currently day 5 of a transit worker strike, and I've been able to learn a bit more about what's going one and how everyone got to where they are.
Some fun facts:
- 2 million passengers per day on the BA Subte system (now forced to other transport means).
- 5 transit workers union strikes since January 2012.
- the government claims around 10% annual inflation rate.
- private (non-gov't) economists peg the current Argentine Peso inflation rate at 23-25% per year.
- 28% wage increase demanded by union during current strike.
- 23% wage increase granted to union during last strike, in May.
- 0 hours of meetings held between government and union officials so far during this strike.
So on the surface, it seems the workers unions are merely demanding their wage rates keep up with inflation. But there's two things wrong with that. First, if the unions are granted wage concessions amounting to about 13% every quarter, as they appear to be demanding, their wage increases far outpace annual inflation. Second, the government maintains their inflation rate of 10% +/-2% is accurate (which, by all accounts, it isn't). And even if that were the case, granting wage increase demands of 20+% every few months would DEFINITELY outstrip the actual inflation rate, let alone the artificial government rate. So the government, logically, has refused to acknowledge the requests this time around, and the stalemate continues.
The other angle the unions are taking is the demand of improvement of working conditions and increased spending on maintenance of the subway infrastructure. Which is logical, the BA subway isn't the nicest in the world and it could use the work. And their case for this got a huge bump yesterday when one of the commuter trains derailed en route to the capital and injured 31 people.
Yet the fiery political rhetoric continues. The President was elected as a populist, but is now being accused of going back on her word because she won't grant each concession demanded by the labor unions that had a huge hand in electing her. The unions accuse the mayor of BA of failing to cooperate, when technically its not even his issue. The national government is in charge of the companies that operate the subways. So far the only remedy that I have seen has been the deployment of 500 school buses, post school run, to drive the same routes the subway lines would otherwise have run.
I hesitate to say I'm amused by all this. Actually amused is the wrong word. I am utterly fascinated to watch this unfold. The political system of the country bears the same resemblance to the one in the US, but the inner workings and party politics of it are so completely different. As inflation rises and the disputes between parties, unions and the electorate continue, I can't help but think I'm watching a train wreck in slow motion. Only question now is, how bad will it be?
No comments:
Post a Comment