IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author): “Relations between the government and non-CGT (Ubaldini group) unions between 1984 and the present. [ARG8863]”, Document #1073499

Relations between the government and non-CGT (Ubaldini group) unions between 1984 and the present. [ARG8863]

IRBDC Responses to Information Request ARG8260 (4 April 1991) and ARG3420 (27 December 1989) deal with the relationship between the Menem government and the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT), Argentina's largest labour union group representing 90% of the unions in Argentina (Trade Unions of the World, 1989, 11). As the Latin American Weekly Report (26 Oct. 1989, 2) noted, the CGT split into three factions in the fall of 1989: a pro-Menem group headed by Guerino Andreoni, a Peronist opposition group headed by Saúl Ubaldini, and a middle group led by two large unions: light and power, and bank workers. Factional splits, however, have long been part of the CGT's history, as the following passage from Trade Unions of the World (1989, 12) illustrates:

The peculiarly powerful status of the CGT has contributed to its almost perpetual factional divisions. In December 1984 the then four-way split of the CGT (CGyT, led by Jorge Triaca; Indedendientes, led by Ramón Baldassini; Ex 25, led by Osvaldo Borda; and Verticalistas, led by Saúl Ubaldini), was healed, with Ubaldini becoming secretary general of the unified CGT. As of late 1986 Ubaldini remained in control of the greater part of the CGT being re-elected as secretary general at a 'normalizing congress' held in early November 1986 but a significant minority bloc, seen as less hostile to the government's efforts to stabilize the national economy, was led by Lorenzo Miguel, the leader of the metalworkers' union (Unión Obrera Metalúrgica UOM).
Three powerful unions which negotiated wage deals with the government in July 1986 without reference to Ubaldini the UOM and the unions of state workers (ATE) and construction workers UOCRA) were reportedly seeking to restrain Ubaldini.
In 1984, newly-elected President Raúl Alfonsín began negotiating a "social pact" with business and union leaders in an effort to heal the country after the Falklands war and years of dictatorship (Latin America Weekly Report 25 January 1985,
3). When the government announced its Austral Plan "shock treatment" to revive the Argentine economy, the CGT cautiously approved (Latin American Weekly 28 June 1985, 10), but would go on to stage 13 general strikes during Alfonsin's presidency to protest the austerity measures, which included wage controls during periods of hyperinflation, and to pressure the government over political issues such as foreign debt restructuring (Problèmes d'Amérique Latine 1990, 73; South America, Central America and the Caribbean 1991 1991, 53-54).
As a means of combatting the CGT, the Alfonsín government began negotiating with individual unions rather than with the CGT in the middle of 1986 (Latin America Weekly Report 24 July 1986, 5), and declared a number of CGT-led strikes illegal (Latin American Weekly Report, 9 Oct. 1986, 8). By the end of 1986, however, further strikes, mainly over wages, were paralyzing the public sector (Latin American Weekly Report 11 Dec. 1986, 8). The government responded with structural reforms aimed at eliminating over 14,000 state jobs (Latin American Weekly Report 19 Mar. 1987, 4), and negotiated a new social pact with los 15, a sub-group of the CGT which included major unions in such sectors as metallurgy (UOM), banking (AB), oil (Supe), auto (Smata), light and power (LyF), telephones (Foetra), plastics, and retail trade (SEC-Buenos Aires) (Latin American Weekly Report 9 April 1987, 4).
Further union-government conflicts led to the passing of labour reform bills in December 1987 and March 1988, which clarified the rights and rules concerning collective bargaining (see pages 10-11 of Trade Unions of the World 1989-1990, attached to the IRBDC's Response to Information Request ARG8864, 17 June 1991.)
Most recently, the unions and the Menem government have been locked in a struggle over the government's policy of privatisation (Latin American Weekly Report 29 Nov. 1990, 1), which involves selling-off large public enterprises such as rail lines, telephone companies and defence concerns (Latin American Weekly Report 25 Oct. 1990, 11). In October 1990 President Menem issued a decree limiting the right to strike among public service unions, and a resolution voiding all collective wage agreements (Latin American Weekly Report 25 Oct. 1990, 11). In the next month the government announced that privatization would eliminate 127,000 jobs in the coming two years (Latin American Weekly Report 29 Nov. 1990, 1). These policies have inspired strikes among railway engineers (Latin American Weekly Report 7 Mar. 1991, 11), teachers (Latin American Weekly Report 28 Feb. 1991, 10), telephone employees (Reuters 10 Sept. 1990), bus drivers (Reuters 3 Sept. 1990) and others.
For more details regarding union-government relations, please refer to the selection of articles included in the attachments. Further information on the subject is currently unavailable to the IRBDC.

Attachments:

Latin American Weekly Report [London]. 25 January 1985. "Union Leaders in Double Bind: Striking Workers Want Tougher Bargaining." P. 3.

_____. 28 June 1985. "CGT Blows Cold, Hot, Chilly." P.10.

_____. 24 July 1986. "CGT Loses Role as Wage Bargainer." P. 5.

_____. 9 October 1986. "CGT Versus Alfonsín in Test of Wills." P. 8.

_____. 16 October 1986. "Who's Who and What's What in the CGT." P. 6.

_____. 11 December 1986. "Argentine Public Sector Affected by Strikes." P. 8.

_____. 19 March 1987. "Structural Reforms Will Follow Squeeze." P. 4.

_____. 9 April 1987. "Radical Union Pact Divides Peronism." P. 4.

_____. 26 October 1989. "Congress Splits CGT Three Ways." P. 2.

_____. 29 November 1990. "Unions Everywhere are Resisting the Region's Privatisation Policies." P. 1.

_____. 25 October 1990. "Menem Presses on with Divestment." P. 11.

_____. 7 March 1991. "Rail Strike Brings Traffic to a Halt." P. 11.

_____. 28 February 1991. "Unions Asked to Hold On." P. 10.

Reuters. 3 September 1990, AM Cycle. "Bus Workers Add to Argentine Strike Problems." (NEXIS)

_____. 10 September 1990, AM Cycle. "Argentine Phone Strike Suspended for 72 Hours. (NEXIS)

The Economist [London]. 12 May 1990. "Argentina: Peron and On and On." PP. 41-42.

Trade Unions of the World 1989-1990. 1989. Chicago and London: St. James Press, pp. 10-13.

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