Moyano has gov’t, Scioli in his sights

The leader of the anti-government CGT umbrella labour group, Hugo Moyano, threatened the government yesterday, announcing that if the government doesn’t respond to worker’s demands with regard to wage adjustments and the income tax floor, “things will get complicated.”

He also sent a message to Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli, stating without naming him specifically that “organizing beach festivals and football games does not guarantee votes,” and also lashed out at his pro-government CGT union umbrella counterpart Antonio Caló, saying he had “a complete lack of personality” for denying a call to Moyano to express solidarity when Government House had linked the teamster to the supermarket lootings last December.

“If there’s no answer from the government, that’s because of the arrogance of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who believes that accepting what another sector has to say signifies losing power, when it’s really the opposite,” he said in a radio interview.

He further remarked that “today the railways have announced a strike, demonstrating that the people are exhausted,” and predicted that the situation would deteriorate.

Moyano contrasted the President with late former president Juan Domingo Perón, stating that “a person who clearly knew more than us was Perón, who said to govern is not to command but to persuade. Nobody likes to be ordered around and that is what irritates people the most, the mistaken policies supported by the President.”

When referring to the wage increase that his union was asking for this year, the labour leader said that they were meeting with different trade unions to sound out what the amount should be, and they would evaluate the proposal on January 23, but he believed that there should be a 25 percent floor to ensure purchasing power is not lost due to inflation, estimated privately at 25.6 percent.

Herald with Telam