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LATIN AMERICA |
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Metro Strike Strands a Million Argentine
Commuters
BUENOS AIRES – Employees of the Buenos Aires
metro went on strike Tuesday for the second
time in a week, forcing a million commuters
to find alternative transportation amid
massive traffic jams in the Argentine
capital.
Metro workers are demanding the right to
secede from the bus drivers union and form
their own organization, but the federal
Labor Ministry has yet to act on the
14-month-old request.
The strikers are also angry about an assault
last week on the family of one their
leaders.
Strike organizer Nestor Segovia said that
attack was linked to last Thursday’s 18-hour
walkout by metro workers seeking to separate
from the established UTA union.
The head of the UTA, Roberto Fernandez, said
Tuesday that authorities should intervene
against the strikers “to guarantee the right
to work.”
“The ultraleft is using this conflict over
union registration on subways to generate
chaos and to endanger the effectiveness of
democracy with their activities,” Fernandez
claimed.
The company that operates the system,
Metrovias, plans Tuesday to ask federal
Judge Ariel Lijo for a ruling ordering
police to ensure trains can run.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez made
an appeal Monday for an end to
confrontations, referring to “contrived
events and other real (ones)” in lamenting
the climate of social tension that has
prevailed for the past few weeks. EFE
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