Argentine trade union leader Armando Cavalieri in a FAECYS archive photo
The stability of Argentina’s major union leaders contrasts with the palace troubles of the country’s political leadership. One of the perennial trade unionists, Armando Cavalieri, 86, this Friday began paving the way for his tenth consecutive term as general secretary of the Trade Employees Union, the country’s largest with more than a million members. If he succeeds, he would remain in office for 40 years. He’s contested by an old acquaintance, Ramón Muerza, who faced him back in 2018 and lost by a handful of votes amid cheating allegations. The election is scheduled for September but Cavalieri starts with a huge advantage after retaining control of the electoral board today.
With a huge security operation, akin to that of a soccer game, nearly 8,000 members gathered in Buenos Aires’ North Park to vote for the five MPs who will oversee the election of their secretary-general. On one side were Cavalieri’s supporters; on the other hand, that of Muerza. Including fences and police.
Both did their best to get as many supporters as possible, because they knew that whoever gains control of the electoral board has an easier time winning when the result is close and fraud is suspected. Muerza was unable to stop Cavaliere. The veteran leader, winner of this struggle, expressed his satisfaction to the media present: “It was a great democratic meeting attended by more than 8,000 members, 6,000 from the Blue List [la que responde a Cavalieri] and about 2,000 from the Garnet list [de Muerza]”
rejection of the objection
Cavalieri’s opponents doubt the voting process. Muerza denounced that security forces, reporting to the union leader, made it difficult for many members to access the site. Cavalieri met with [Mauricio] Macri because he wants to cheat again,” Muerza warned. This candidate, who made a union career in Coto supermarkets, reiterated that the 2018 election was not transparent.
Cavalieri has been in office since 1985 and has seen 11 Argentine presidents pass in those four decades. As part of the Gordos, as the powerful Peronist trade unionists are known in Argentina, he has sat down to negotiate with all heads of state who have ruled long enough and intends to do the same with the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Argentina’s unionization rate – almost 28% according to the International Labor Organization – is much higher than Chile’s (17.1%), more than double that of Brazil (13%) and still far from that of other major countries in of the region such as Colombia (4.7%).
Much of the power of Argentina’s unions comes from the wealth they have amassed from controlling their own healthcare system, on which more than 15 million Argentines depend. They don’t want any government against them and they negotiate with all of them money for social projects and salary increases in exchange for social peace. As the largest association, retail is also the one with one of the largest savings banks.
The social work system allows millions of Argentines to access medical services, but at the same time it is the source of numerous corruption and allegations of illegal enrichment by the main trade unionists, including Cavalieri.
In the 1970s he was expelled from the trade union for a complaint of fraud on a housing plan, but he made it back and gained more and more power until he reached the general secretary. In the 1990s, Cavalieri was prosecuted for threatening a journalist researching his large estate. The most recent allegation dates back to 2018: he was charged with the alleged crime of “fraudulent administration” of 50 million pesos (about $2.5 million at the time) in the social work of the Osecac union.
Court complaints and public accusations have not been able to harm him: at the age of 86 he is preparing for his re-election.