Women in black, flowers and wreaths behind a coffin… The funeral procession in Buenos Aires was for Argentina’s minimum wage, which union members “buried” as it evaporates due to inflation, which is expected to reach 90% by the end of year.
“The situation for the workers is desperate. Before the middle of the month the salary ends, it is not enough,” Melissa Gargarejo, a representative of the Front of Organizations in the Struggle (FOL), one of the organizers of the protest, told Reuters.
A protester held up the “medical history” of Argentina’s minimum wage, a chart showing how inflation “led to death”.
“The salary is dead” read a banner at the symbolic march, which took place through central streets of the Argentine capital and ended in front of the presidential palace. On a wreath was formed in flowers the message “Rest in peace minimum wage”.
The minimum wage in Argentina amounts to 332 euros, when the basic nutritional needs of a family of four (parents and two children) are not even covered by double the amount each month. The national statistics institute INDEC calculates them at 813 euros per month.
For years, governments’ efforts to contain inflation have been unsuccessful. Last July, inflation in Argentina hit a 20-year high.
New Economy “minister” Sergio Massa has been given expanded powers in the government’s bid to tame runaway inflation.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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