BUENOS AIRES, Aug 19 (Portal) – Some women wore black mourning clothes and wreaths of flowers. Other people in the procession in Buenos Aires carried a huge coffin. But this funeral procession in the Argentine capital honored no one.
Instead, the “death” of Argentine workers’ wages should be mourned in a country where inflation is expected to hit 90% by the end of this year, eating away at workers’ purchasing power despite years of government attempts to stem price increases.
“The situation for the workers is devastating. Before the middle of the month we will run out of salary, it’s not enough,” Melisa Gargarello, a representative of the Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL), organizer of the protest, told Portal.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Portal.com
To
One protester carried a “medical history” for Argentina’s wages, a chart showing how inflation has eroded the value of paychecks.
While much of the world is grappling with high single-digit inflation this year, Argentina’s struggles fall into a different category.
Demonstrators carry a coffin during a symbolic funeral for their pay as they march to the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina August 19, 2022. Portal/Agustin Marcarian
Continue reading
“The paycheck has died” read a banner at the symbolic procession that made its way through the main streets of the Argentine capital and ended in front of the presidential palace. Wreaths of flowers worn by women carried the message “RIP the minimum wage”.
The country’s official monthly minimum wage is 45,540 Argentine pesos ($334), while a basic grocery basket for a family of two adults and two children costs 111,298 pesos ($817), more than double that, according to the National Statistics Institute INDEC.
Years of policy efforts to curb inflation have done little to dampen inflation, and in July the country recorded its highest inflation rate in 20 years. Continue reading
The latest attempt involves the appointment of a new economy minister, Sergio Massa, who has been granted increased powers to try to tame inflation. The Argentines have dubbed him a “super minister”. Continue reading
“Today we are holding a symbolic funeral of wages, which we believe reflects the situation that all workers in Argentina are experiencing,” said Maximiliano Maita of FOL.
($1 = 136.1500 Argentine pesos)
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Portal.com
To
Reporting by Horacio Soria; Writing from Carolina Pulice Editing by Leslie Adler
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.