SUCCESSFUL STRIKE ACTION. IN ARGENTINA
By O. Gomes
BUENOS AIRES -- Trade unions representing some hundreds of thousands of workers in government-operated industries such a railways, the telephone system, harbor installations, maritime, subways, etc., recently confronted the Tiita administration with a series of strike actions.
The main demand was for wage increases going as high as forty per cent because of the steep rise in-the cost of living. Without refusing in principle to meet the wage demand, the Illia administration began by offering a more modest increase, citing the difficult financial situation facing the government -- the deficit in the budget is now running at almost fifty per-cent.
The workers replied with a series of forceful measures -=working by the rules, partial strikes and 24+ or 48-hour strikes, with threats to make them indefinite. The top leadership of the Confederacién General del Trabajo -- dominated by the Peronists -took no part in this; they have practically given up their famous "Plan of Struggle." Despite this, the unions involved some of which are headed by Peronists and others by "free" or kaemocratic" officials, succeeded in partially co-ordinating their action through bodies that were previously purely decorative. This was the case with the unions in transport, railways, maritime, the air service,
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etc., which had always acted separately under their own leadership but wiv united their forces this time in the “Gonfederacién Argentina de los Trabajadores del Transporte." - Faced with the possibility that the conflict could widen and take an unforeseeable course, the government had to back'down, At the beginning of each strike the government reaction was always the same -- turn down the demands and issue threats of all kinds. Thus they talked about suspending personnel, withdrawing certain concessions already granted, not paying for days missed, etc. They even talked about mobilizing the workers -- particularly in the railways -- putting them under command of the army.
Although these threats met with full approval among the bourgeoisie, they accomplished nothing. The government. retreated and a series of partial agreements were reached based on granting most of the workers! demands.
As a result of this victory, some of the unions won substantial increases. The telephone workers, for example, gained a twentyseven per cent boast for the first eight months of the contract and an additional fifteen per cent for the following seven-months. As in the other cases, the contract is retroactive, covering the last four or five months of 1964. Up to now only a few disputes remain to be settled.
As a whole, the strike movement was a success. It is true that the desire of the "democratic" leaderships to reach an agreement prevented the gains from being greater. And although circumstances induced the unions to genuinely co-ordinate their actions, they never succeeded in this, It was more of an aim than an actual reality. For all that it was sufficient to help compel the government to give in. Despite its weaknesses, the experience will undoubtedly be of use in future struggles.
But it was not only the firmness of the workers that influ- | enced the outcome, There were other reasons, At no time did the government resort to violent repression, despite the verbal threats. This was due to the fact that the extensiveness of the movement - would have demanded the use of the army. The government wished to avoid this, for it would have given the army a central role and placed it in position to bring weight against the authorities themselves. In addition, massive repression on the- eve of the elections, scheduled for the end of February and beginning of March, would have seriously hurt the government party -~ Radicalismo del Pueblo == and increased the influence of Peronism.
All this brought the government to give in. But if the Illia administration ended one headache, the concessions will bring it new ones. The government was not merely offering an excuse in its first response to the workers! demands --. the deficit in the budget does not permit big increases. Consequently the only way of avoiding a still worse imbalance in the budget is to put through a proportional
increase in rates for the various services, -In some cases.-=- the telephone service, for instance -- this would mean an increase of ninety per cent. It is easy to see what this -would do to the standard of living of broad sectors of the population, all the more so since, despite repeated promises to the contrary, the Illia administration recently felt compelled to increase the rates for gas, elec-~ tricity and fuel,
Thus conditions are ripening for another rise in trade-union struggles. For the moment the government is perhaps able to handle the situation. There is no doubt that the general economic situation in the country has improved. Unemployment has dropped, at least in the big urban centers like the capital, its suburbs and in Rosario and Cérdoba, the next largest cities. The most important unions -textiles, metals, the "Light and Power" employees, etc., -- have. made many important gains. This all tends to create a certain tranquil climate. But inflation continues to gnaw away;. price controls are ineffective. Little by little the improvements that have been won will be dissipated. In addition the rise in employment will encourage the workers and the experience of the successful strikes will bolster their militancy. A new wave of strikes will then be seen in Argentina,
SIT-DOWN STRIKES WITH HOSTAGES
Workers in some of the plants in “Northern Argentina have developed a new wrinkle in