Argentina Public Workers Protest Layoffs
Local Editor
Tens of thousands of public workers across Argentina staged a one-day strike to protest against soaring inflation and widespread job cuts by the administration of President Mauricio Macri.
Unions representing public workers, including hospital staffers and government office workers, participated in the Wednesday walkout that was held in cities, including Buenos Aires and Cordoba.
They demanded an end to the trimming of payrolls and called on the government to hire back thousands of workers, who have been fired.
Relatively, Secretary General of Center of Workers of Argentina, Ricardo Peidro said: "This is our response to the government layoffs."
In addition, several other groups took to major streets in the capital of Buenos Aires, Argentina's largest city.
For his part, Secretary General of the Association of State Workers, Hugo Godoy added that: "We have achieved our primary goal, uniting every government employee to fight for our rights."
"If the government doesn't respond, we will continue with forceful measures," he warned.
In parallel, Argentina's teachers' unions, who were promised a 32-percent wage increase, also threatened to take action.
This was the first such strike since Macri took office in December 2015, with promises to revive the country's ailing economy.
Although the administration said 6,200 workers were laid off and more layoffs may be coming, unions noted that almost 21,000 public sector workers lost their jobs.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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