Unexpected internal fight in the CGT to get a place in the delegation that will meet with Pope Francis

Pope Francis, Hector Daer, Pablo Moyano and Gerardo Martinez

The CGT has just confirmed its audience with the Pope, but it cannot avoid a state of permanent fighting and internal disputes are already emerging over the members of the delegation that will travel to the Vatican. The person in charge of the audience, Héctor Daer (Health), one of the CGT co-leaders, has already warned that they will be very selective with the delegation and that only 8 leaders will go. It will be a challenge to form a CGT whose Board of Directors is made up of 49 representatives from different unions and who, as is traditional, give superlative importance to this coveted postcard with the Supreme Pontiff.

Those chosen to meet with Pope Francis in a private audience on Monday, September 16, at 9:30, will be, in addition to Daer, Pablo Moyano (Truckers), Andrés Rodríguez (UPCN), Gerardo Martínez (UOCRA), José Luis Lingeri (Waterworks), Rodolfo Daer (Food), Maia Volcovinsky (Judicial) and Marina Jaureguiberry (Private Teachers). However, the other member of the CGT leadership triumvirate, Carlos Acuña (Service Stations), will not attend.

Daer handled his request for an audience with Jorge Bergoglio almost secretly. Only Moyano, with whom he feels increasingly comfortable, and his brother Rodolfo, leader of the Food Union and former head of the CGT between 1996 and 2000, who historically was one of the leaders who had the best ties with the Church and with the current Pope since he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, were aware of it.

Pope Francis will receive the CGT and triggered an unexpected internal union dispute (Reuters)

The idea of ​​the promoters of the meeting in the Vatican is that the photo with the Pope will serve to strengthen their claims against the government of Javier Milei and, in addition, discourage the advancement of bills in Congress that affect union power, such as the limitation of solidarity dues, the cap on re-elections in unions and measures in favor of transparency and union democracy.

But the composition of the eight-member delegation has already begun to generate complaints among those who will remain on the plane to Rome. Some question the fact that the names were decided by “the small group that resolves everything without consulting anyone,” while others focus their criticism on the fact that leaders who “represent important activities in the country” and who could have presented the Pope with a more detailed overview of the effects of Milei’s measures will be sidelined.

The CGT continues to delay a meeting of its inner circle, which was supposed to have been held two weeks ago to analyze whether to maintain the truce with the Government without forceful measures or give a new impetus to the postponed plan of struggle that has already included two general strikes since December 10.

Hector Daer and his brother Rodolfo will travel to the Vatican to see the Pope

However, the pro-dialogue sector preferred to postpone the internal debate while waiting for the progress of the negotiations to attenuate two articles of the labor reform in the regulations being drawn up by the Ministry of Labor, led by Julio Cordero. If they achieve their objective, this fraction believes that it will have more reasons to stop the hard wing, made up of Moyanists and Kirchnerists, who seek to boycott any negotiations with the Government and accelerate the realization of a new general strike by the CGT.

The visit to the Pope will not be a mere protocolary greeting: Bergoglio will receive the 8 trade unionists in a private audience that will take place in his house in Santa Marta. There, they will be able to speak at length about the situation in the country and the CGT will give him a document on the social and economic problems of Argentina, with the expectation of some papal nod towards his position against the Government.

In some ways, Daer inherited the good ties with the Vatican from his brother Rodolfo and his predecessor in the Federation of Health Workers (FATSA), Carlos West Ocampo, who, together with Armando Cavalieri (Commerce) and the late Oscar Lescano (Light and Power), were characterized for decades by maintaining and expanding the relationship with members of the Argentine Church.

Pope Francis with the general secretary of the Association of Flight Attendants, Juan Pablo Brey, and other leaders of his union

Last June, the Pope received two separate union contingents that visited him at the Vatican. On the one hand, a delegation that included Gerardo Martínez, Secretary of International Relations of the CGT, and then a delegation made up of Juan Pablo Brey (aircraft workers), José Voytenco (UATRE), Cristian Jerónimo (glass workers), Guillermo Moser (Luz y Fuerza), Pablo Flores (AFIP) and Juan José Moreyra (ceramic workers), among others.

The most striking photo of that day, however, was taken by Brey: he was photographed alongside the Pope with a union flag and another of Aerolíneas Argentinas, just when the Senate of the Nation was debating the Ley Bases in which the privatization of the flagship airline was planned.

Now, the current CGT will finally have its first postcard with Francis, but, in keeping with its complex internal situation, it will arrive at the Vatican with the wear and tear of criticism and internal reproaches for how the names of the 8 privileged people who will speak one-on-one with the Pope were chosen.