Despite Javier Milei’s impending veto on the increase in pension benefits, pensioners want to gather for this Wednesday at 3 pm in front of the annex of Congress – this is what they have been ‘ do every week – and they march afterwards, starting at 17, to Plaza de Mayo. The protest was explained in a plenary session that brought together about thirty of its groups. They also want union, social, student and community groups.
“The increase that the government is against is very small, it is 17 thousand pesos which does not solve the problems of retirees; However, we must prevent it from being banned.”said Marcos Wolman, from the National Coordination Register of Retirement and Pension Organizations in the Argentine Republic.
Wolman believes that, as in all groups of retirees, “the Government is leading to pay for the pension system.” “Their plan is to march towards the privatization of the system, we saw it in the Basic Law, in the DNU and in the May Agreement, which proposes pension reform. The privatization of pensions, returning to the model that failed in the 90s, is not only the case of Milei, but part of a movement in all Latin American countries: yesterday there was a movement in Peru and in Uruguay they are holding a plebiscite. “
Since Milei took over, retirement groups have been implemented. With the change, the historical groups accepted but new groups were also created.
On Saturday most of them met at the Mutual Sentimientos. “Then we decided to call the march to Plaza de Mayo. We also invite other sectors to join, such as the CGT and the two CTAs,” said Nora Biaggio, from the Plenary Meeting of Retired Workers. Regarding the news about the veto made by Milei, he said that the president “He has been using retirees’ money to pay off external debt that retirees can’t afford. He shamelessly says, ‘I have a fiscal surplus’ and he has it because he has cut pensioners.”
Rubén, from Jubilados Insurgentes, said that the places that bring together retirees in struggle are growing. “We were there eight years ago, but recently, as the government’s economic pressure went on, we started to be more on the streets.” In October last year they started marching around Congress on Wednesdays. “When we started we were 25 and today we are over 200. Just like us, there are more departments and groups too.”
Not everyone has decided to go to Plaza de Mayo. The retirees of the State Employees Association, for example, will only participate in the first part of the protest, that is, in Congress. This was confirmed by Noelia Guzmán, from the National Center for Retired Workers and Pensions at ATE, who noted that her group did not participate in the plenary session on Saturday.
Among the organizers of the march to the Plaza de Mayo are the Meeting of Retirees and Community Assemblies, Retirees of the Frente Grande, Independent Retirees, Full of Retired Workers, UJEL, Load -retirement in Stri, Union of Retired Workers in Stri, Federation of Professionals of the Argentine Republic, Classic Retirees, Agrupaciòn Germán Abdala Ate Capital, MJL Conat, Retirees of the left, retired Insurgentes and the National Coordination Register of Retired and Pensioners Organizations of Argentina.
It is the slogan of the march Not to the veto of Milei and Macri on the retirement movement.
Retirement groups are also promoting the signature campaign against changing the pension system. “It is important that society finds out how the Government provides financial support for retirement. Pension contributions are decreasing, they will take the tax out of PAIS dollars, 60 percent of which went to ANSES and another 10 percent to PAMI. The rise in unemployment and black labor is also supporting the system, as the number of workers who are adding to it for every person who retires is going down. All this is happening while the minimum retirement level covers almost a third of the poverty basket,” said Wolman.
For Noelia Guzmán, the libertarian retirement model “aims to bring assets to 80 percent of today’s minimum level. Their idea is to leave a subsidy; With the funding they are doing, it won’t be enough for more.”
