“We’re going to enter the world with dignity. The government is back in the hands of the people!” said Alberto Fernández after he handily defeated incumbent Argentinian president Mauricio Macri on Sunday.
The election of Fernández and vice president elect Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, running on the Frente de Todos slate, was a clear refutation of Macri’s neoliberal, anti-labor agenda.
“The agenda of the IMF is not the agenda of the people, and we hope this election is just one of many to come that puts the interests of the many before the concerns of bankers,” said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union.
While Macri was in office, the peso plunged while the inflation skyrocketed to an annual rate of 56 percent. The number of people living in poverty also shot up from 29 percent to 35 percent. He attempted to rollback labor protections.
“What happened on Sunday in Argentina demonstrates the end of a late neoliberal economic vision that excludes small and medium-sized enterprises, science and technology, education and public health, the middle classes and workers,” said Ruben Cortina, Global President of UNI. “A new stage has begun, and its top priority will be to reanimate the Argentine economy and restore the social inclusion of the vast majority of people.”
For the past four years, UNI Americas and its affiliates mobilized against Macri’s austerity policies.
“Macri followed the mandate of financial markets, but now, Argentina’s new president has a new mandate—to restore and rebuild an economy that works for the many,” said Regional Secretary of UNI Americas Marcio Monzane. “We are proud to stand with the Argentinian people today.”
