The Secretary of Labor, Julio Cordero, arrived this Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, with a proposal under the arm directed to try reactivate the deteriorated relationship with unionism: it will offer the CGT open an instance of dialogue under the umbrella of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The former Techint lawyer knows that his idea it won’t turn on very easily in the Cegetista leadership, divided in its forms although united in its hostility towards the government of Javier Milei, although it wants to talk about it in person with leaders such as Hector Daer (Health), Gerardo Martinez (UOCRA) and Cristian Jerónimo (glass), with whom will match during the ILO conference.
Until now, from the CGT and the two CTA there have been very strong speeches against the libertarian administration in the context of the international meeting. From criticism of all kinds to a unusual anti-mileist political act in which they sang “The Homeland is not for sale” in a room of the international organization. Thus, around twenty union members flew to one of the most expensive cities in the world (in tourist class?) and spent euros for 15 days to denounce “the adjustment” in Argentina.
In that last area there is a reproach that the CGT will not be able to make to Cordero: to reinforce the message of austerity of the Government, say those close to him, decided travel in economy class, do it accompanied only by the director of International Labor Affairs, Gerardo Corres and also, shorten your stay: will only stay the last week of the ILO conference.
Those around the Secretary of Labor assure that when it is his turn to speak before all the member countries of the ILO, on Wednesday, he will respond with prudence union attacks. For the official, one more word would be equivalent to new reasons for the union leadership to distance itself from the Government and he is one of the libertarians, along with the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos, and the star advisor Santiago Caputo, that build bridges towards the CGT to avoid an irreversible rupture.
The Secretary of Labor knows every corner of the ILO building and its directors: he was part of the ILO delegation for many years. Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) before the organism. Despite that, she drew attention that when she landed in Geneva it was received on a weekend day by the director general of the ILO, Gilbert Houngbo who was he with gathered for an hour.
It was a meaningful wink towards the government representative of Argentina, which had another additional component: at the meeting, it was officially reported, Houngbo “expressed his interest in Argentina’s issues and offered ILO collaboration for a sincere dialogue between businessmen, workers and the government.” It is precisely what Cordero will offer to the CGT: discuss and explore agreements on specific topics with the presence of experts from the international organization.
What the Secretary of Labor has in mind is 3 instances of dialogue with union members and businessmenpiloted by former undersecretary Liliana Acosta de Archimbal: fight against workplace violence and harassment, artificial intelligence and modernization of labor legislation. Cordero believes that integrating the CGT into these commissions will allow us to overcome the permanent confrontation.
For the head of Labor it was a relief that Gerardo Martínez, Secretary of International Relations of the CGT, spoke this Friday before the ILO with a conciliatory tone towards the Government. Although he insisted on his criticism of Milei, as in his two previous interventions as a member of the Governing Body of the ILO, he gave a sign aimed at opening negotiation channels. Two phrases from her speech were suggestive: when she said “we continue to commit to an agenda of dialogue” and by stating that “No political force will be able to solve structural problems alone.”
Within the dialogue sector of the CGT, in any case, there are contradictions evident: just as the leader of the UOCRA had a last speech moderate and full of code messages to the government, Hector Daer, one of the cegetista co-owners, disoriented even to his peers when he decided to fly to Madrid to appear alongside the president of the Spanish government and socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, at the closing of the European elections campaign. His presence does not seem coincidental: Daer is Alberto Fernández’s best friend in unionism and, as is known, the former Argentine president boasts of his brotherly bond with Sánchez. But it was curious to see an exponent of traditional unionism, a sector that was always at odds with the left and adhered to the Peronist right, embracing a Spanish leader who recognized himself as proud to be “left-handed” and “progressive”. The rejection of Milei causes miracles how to achieve join left and right on the same front.
Beyond this incursion of Daer into the socialist world, the moderates of the CGT are facing another dilemma: how to get out of the trap in which he left them. Pablo Moyano with the challenging call to mobilize on Wednesday the 12th when the Senate discusses the Bases Law, an initiative promoted by Cristina Kirchner and her son Máximo. As anticipated Infobae, The former Vice President asked two of the Moyanismo union bishops, Mario Manrique (SMATA) and Abel Furlan (UOM), who convinced Pablo Moyano to shake the mobilization against the Government from the CGT, which until that moment had agreed to give leeway to the unions to decide if they were going to the street rally.
In the absence of his dialogue rivals, the leader of Camioneros He used the CGT headquarters to hold his own event, presented as a meeting of regional Cegetistas, in which the mobilization before Congress to press to the senators. In a rare photograph, Pablo Moyano was accompanied only by its most faithful, most unionist leaders K, Axel Kicillof officials, former members of Alberto Fernández’s government, representatives of social movements and Trotskyists such as Alejandro Crespo, leader of the Tire Union. Not even at her peak, Cristina Kirchner could show a such a varied (and strange) political coalition.
A similar postcard Moyano built this Friday at a press conference held at SMATA, although in this case he took more care and never mentioned the CGT as the promoter of the mobilization. The virtual cegetista rupture was laid bare. Dialogueists insist that there will be no official call of the workers’ central to go out into the streets, although they do not want to appear boycotting a move against the Bases Law. In any case, they analyze being present before the Senate with a symbolic presence of their unions so as not to appear aligned with the Government. Likewise, participating in the street concentration leaves them near of Cristina Kirchner and if there is one thing this sector does not want, it is to end up being functional to the political strategy of the former Vice President, her political enemy.
Some of the moderates of the CGT will have the perfect excuse not to join the Moyano-Kirchnerist mobilization because they will be abroad (unless they go out into the streets of Geneva to protest against the Base Law). Other leaders took the opportunity to go on vacation for a few days. When they get off the planes, if the free shop doesn’t catch them, they may find out that the latest survey of the University of Saint Andrew regarding the image of 34 political and union leaders leaves two of the CGT leaders in a bad light: Hector Daer 5% have a positive image, 47% do not know/do not answer and 48% negative, while Pablo Moyano, 11% have a positive image, 19% do not know/do not answer and 70% negative image, figure that places him among the worst in the survey, only surpassed by Maximo Kirchner (75% negative opinions) and Alberto Fernandez (83%).
Perhaps these are data that affect the upcoming scenario for the Government and the CGT, where the dialogue promoted by Cordero, sponsored by the ILO, is emerging as a form of get out of perpetual conflict and also, in light of the Cegetist internal, in a ideal resource to prevent the hard line from being imposed, with Pablo Moyano and the Kirchnerists at the helm, which would lead to a 36 hour strike.
