More than 30,000 passengers were affected by a strike by pilots and crew demanding salary increases in inflation-hit Argentina on Friday, according to airline Aerolineas Argentinas and unions. As workers walked off their jobs for the second time this month, President Javier Milei prepared to sign a decree declaring the aviation sector an “essential service” to ensure a minimum level of service during such strikes, his minister said. spokesman.
The 24-hour strike led to the cancellation of 319 flights, mainly affecting domestic and regional travelers, but also hundreds of passengers heading to the United States and Europe. Costa Rican engineer Alex Rodriguez, 53, became stranded while heading to one of South America’s top tourist attractions, the breathtaking Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border.
“We had planned the holiday a long time ago, about three months ago. We came from very far away, it was expensive and then everything was cancelled,” he told AFP.
The general secretary of the Association of Airline Workers (APA), Juan Pablo Brey, said the purchasing power of airline workers has fallen by 40 percent since Milei came to power in December. Since taking office in December, Milei has implemented a drastic austerity program in an attempt to rein in chronic inflation and decades of government overspending. However, annual inflation still stands at 236.7 percent and the economic slowdown due to austerity has hit Argentinians. difficult. Brey told a local radio station that cabin crew earned 729,000 pesos ($730 at the official exchange rate) and ground crew 500,000 pesos, half of what they could earn at some low-cost companies.
Aerolineas Argentinas said the strike was “premature, insulting, out of context, and irresponsibly promoted by union leaders.” Milei’s spokesman Manuel Adorni said those who struck would face “a fine and sanctions.” Milei had tried to privatize Aerolineas Argentinas as part of his sweeping economic reforms, but was forced to remove the company from the list of companies to be privatized to get his measures through parliament earlier this year.
