January was not typical for the city of Mar del Plata. The postcard of the summer, this time it is not the beaches full of families but somehow the crowded streets in rejection of the measures taken by the Milei government. The national reality affects every part of the country, even in summer, even in “La Happy”.
As in other cities across the country, the mobilization on January 24th was enormous. Despite the fact that the bureaucratic directorates of the CGT and the CTA called for the STOP with many restrictions (from 12 noon, without prior meetings, under threat of discounts, with complete normality in transport), the workers did not do so. They stayed home and marched against the DNU and the omnibus law.
Large columns marched along Av. Luro in Mar del Plata and its side streets and ended at the San Martín monument, which many could not reach due to the size of the call.
The Mar del Plata that businessmen always try to hide was expressed in the streets. The Mar del Plata, which cannot make ends meet even with work, of precarious young people, those with multiple jobs, those who travel in overcrowded conditions with very high transport costs and those who cannot pay rent. Mar del Plata, full of public schools with collapsing roofs and children who are not guaranteed basic rights such as proper nutrition, took to the streets. Health workers supporting a fragmented and underfunded public health system at all levels, unified only by the efforts of its employees, filled the streets. Women and dissidents took to the streets, refusing to take a step back, including those who defend the right to culture and environmental organizations that have fought for an oil-free sea.
The main calls came from different parts of the city. Starting from the doors of the CGT and CTA, various unions and the independent column convened by social and left organizations in Plaza Rocha.
The independent column was organized from a plenary session of existing and unemployed workers, left-wing parties and sectors of militant unions, who are demanding from the trade union centers that the nationwide strike should be the beginning of a battle plan to overthrow the DNU and the Omnibus Law. Because it is clear that no trust can be placed in the trade union centers that have allowed the adjustments made by the various governments.
As the Marron group in the PTS FTU suggested, it is necessary to convene meetings and develop a national battle plan against the DNU and the omnibus law. Additionally, the need for an active nationwide strike will be heightened if the bill is voted on.
It was shocking to see how many workers were organized in various trade unions, social and political organizations and said no to the mega-DNU, the repressive protocol and the collective law.
Mar del Plata health workers are standing
The health sector was represented with a prominent column of workers gathered at the CICOP and important delegations from the region's main health care providers: Oscar Alende Hospital, municipal departments, Tetamanti Hospital and others. They chanted “Unity of the Workers” as they saw other columns passing by.
There has not been a call of this magnitude in the industry for a long time, although there are many reasons for this, as the local healthcare system is in a deep crisis. To promote mobilization, the health sector held meetings, tours and leaflets in hospitals and various services so that all health workers could learn about the strike and actively participate.
From the list 5 in the MULTICOLOR of the CICOP, we were part of these initiatives, at the same time we raised the demand for the convening of a meeting of delegates of the union, which has not been convened for a long time, so in all hospitals and health centers, meetings are being held and discussed at the provincial level , how Milei and the right's plan can be confronted and how the battle plan should continue.
On the streets until they tear down the DNU and the law
Ten days after Milei took office, on December 20, we took to the streets for the first time to challenge the anti-picketing protocol and defend the right to strike. This first step made it possible to fill the entire country with pots and pans that same night, and Mar del Plata was no exception.
This 24E represented in the imagination of the workers of recent times a new and beautiful postcard with a very strong symbolic content: it showed who makes the country work and where the forces are, around the DNU, the omnibus law and the whole to tear down the accommodation of Milei and the IMF.
Next Tuesday they will try to pass the omnibus bill through Congress, where they will continue to deepen the zero deficit adjustment (which we know involves budget cuts for health, education, social sectors, etc ), privatizations and delegated powers propose monarchy mode and the liquidation of pensions and salaries continues. They also want to maintain the DNU's labor reform. From above, Freedom Advances is seeking votes, tinkering and preparing a new plunder of working people that cannot be missed.
There is an urgent need for a battle plan with continuity, voted on in the assemblies, that coordinates all the fighting sectors and allows the repeal of the DNU and the Omnibus Law. Here in Mar del Plata, as in other parts of the country, a cacerolazo is declared for Tuesday, during which we will continue to express that Milei's chainsaw plan will not be implemented.