Two people remain in a lonely train station due to a strike this Wednesday in Buenos Aires (Argentina). EFE.
THE NEW DIARY, BUENOS AIRES. – The city of Buenos Aires This Wednesday dawned with long lines at bus stops, the only means of transportation that operates in the Argentine capital due to a 24-hour strike that affects planes, trains, the capital’s metro (Subte) and taxis.
“I have coordinated with a neighbor to go to work in his car,” explains to EFE Erika, a woman who lives in a suburb of the capital and goes to work every day in the center of the capital, which means, in her case, traveling more than 20 kilometers.
Those who have been able to organize with friends are reaching their jobs, but those who depend on public rail transport and live in the peripheries are experiencing difficulties reaching their destination.
For this reason, many workers have not gone to their jobs, as several affected people have confirmed to EFE.
“People who live far away and don’t have a car are staying at home, they are not going to work. Without trains you cannot access the capital,” said a Buenos Aires citizen.
Striking transport sectors demand better wages
In the city of Buenos Aires only urban buses (collectives) operate, which is why the lines since dawn are being the dominant note on this day of strike, which the bus drivers will join tomorrow if they do not reach an agreement with the the authorities.
A passenger sleeps in several chairs while waiting this Wednesday at the Ezeiza International Airport, which serves Buenos Aires (Argentina). EFE
The strikers ask for decent wages, job improvements and, above all, they protest against the cuts by the Government of Javier Milei.
The co-head of the General Workers’ Union (CGT) and general secretary of the Truckers’ Union, Pablo Moyano, stated on Tuesday that this strike “is going to be the beginning of something much more important,” in statements to the radio station AM750.
Who is on strike?
The railway unions, which represent train and subway workers, are on strike, so there are no passenger, cargo and merchandise services on this route.
In the airline sector, the Association of Airline Pilots of Argentina (APLA) and the Argentine Association of Aeronauts (AAA), which brings together cabin crew, have joined the strike.
This action has affected about 30,000 passengers. Consequently, Aeroparque, the airport located in the Argentine capital, is deserted due to an almost total absence of activity.
Many flights have been diverted to the Ezeiza International Airport – especially from the low-cost companies Flybondi and JetSmart -, where private companies have ramp services and can thus disembark travelers, reported the TN television network.
A man remains at the entrance of one of the subway trains, empty and stopped, this Wednesday, in Buenos Aires (Argentina). EFE.
Also the taxi drivers of the capital, although in the latter case some vehicles from this union are seen circulating through the streets of Buenos Aires.
The response of the Milei Government
“The union members do not let you work” is the message from the Government of Javier Milei that appears this Wednesday at the Retiro station, where trains, subways and buses converge, one of the nerve centers of transportation in Buenos Aires.
This message, but expanded with attacks on union members identified by their surnames, was published on Tuesday in the Mi Argentina application, aimed at facilitating administrative procedures for citizens and which the Government has used to harangue against the strike.
Also on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni stated in his usual press conference that those who go on strike are “privileged people who seek to harm those who want to work.”
