BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina's trains and subways were disrupted, flights grounded, grain shipments interrupted, deliveries halted and banks shuttered as unions held a general strike Thursday against the libertarian government of President Javier Milei.
The daylong strike comes as Milei is 16 months into a presidency that has sought to eliminate Argentina's fiscal deficit through severe austerity measures.
The stoppage — led by the country's main union confederation, CGT — tried to bring Argentina to a standstill a day after union activists joined a weekly protest of retirees rallying for increases to their government pensions, most of which are now set at the equivalent of some $300 a month and have lost significant ground to inflation.
Union members, including train conductors, teachers, customs officials, trash collectors and postal workers, walked off the job at midnight on Wednesday for 24 hours. Airports emptied as the main airlines halted operations. Many public hospitals were only dealing with emergencies. The government said the stoppage cost the economy some $880 million.
''We are joining the strike for fair collective bargaining, solidarity with retirees and the country's poorest and for the crisis that we are experiencing,'' said Néstor Segovia, assistant secretary of the subway workers' union.
Still, the strike appeared to draw only lukewarm support.
The bus workers' union opted out of the transport shutdown due to ongoing wage negotiations, allowing most commuters to take their usual route to work. Although the taxis' union supported the stoppage, cabs could be seen cruising the streets for fares. In the trendy neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, cafes and clothing stores bustled as usual.
Argentina's powerful trade unions have been controlled by the Peronist party — the country's long dominant political movement, now in opposition — ever since they helped vault its founder, Juan Domingo Perón, to power in 1945. They remain central to the system that Milei has sought to tear down.
