Argentina: End of a Truce

Only one force in Argentina rivals the power of the military: the 2,500,000-member General Labor Confederation. Through its strikes, demonstrations and exorbitant pay demands, the confederation has triggered the overthrow of three of the country's last six Presidents. Last week, for a change, Argentina's polo-playing Strongman Juan Carlos Onganía suddenly made things hot for the confederation. In rapid succession, he temporarily dissolved the country's six largest labor unions, representing more than 625,000 workers, froze the bank accounts of 100 union leaders, and enacted a new law empowering the government to draft any male or female over 14 years into a "civilian defense corps." The law thus puts every union troublemaker within quick, easy reach.

The crackdown ended—once and for all—the delicate truce organized by Onganía and the unions shortly after he seized power in a coup last year. Under the truce, Onganía had promised that the government would keep out of the unions if the unions kept out of politics. Onganía also promised to hold down the country's soaring cost of living (up 30% in 1966) and to impose some belt tightening and other much needed reforms on the country. To give his program some grandeur, he even borrowed Charles de Gaulle's slogan: "Vérité et sévérité." "I demand truth and austerity," said Onganía. "We need austerity everywhere."

Brought to Heel. In the end, that included the unions. The government ordered stiff new work rules for Argentine port workers, whose strikes and "holidays" idled the docks for more than 150 days last year. A few weeks ago, the government began a similar cleanup of Argentina's government-owned railroads, which are losing $1,000,000 a day. When labor leaders decided that enough was enough and called for strikes and protest demonstrations, Onganía's government barred street rallies by the unions, broke off all dialogue with the confederation and ordered state-owned broadcasting stations to withhold any mention of it.

Fortunately for Onganía, the showdown caught the unions at a moment when they were embroiled in a bitter internal power struggle. As a result, the first 24-hour strike fizzled and, in the face of Onganía's determination, labor leaders last week knuckled under and called off a planned series of strikes. With labor brought to heel, at least temporarily, Onganía's government pressed ahead with its austerity program. Though keeping a tight lid on wages, the government announced a 100% hike in postal and telegraph rates, a 23% increase in water and gas rates and a stiff new tax reform that raises many taxes, adds some new ones and provides penalties of up to 500% for tardy payers. To add insult to injury, Onganía showed that he was not in the least fearful of the unions. As his government moved firmly against labor, he hopped into his light blue Avro jetprop early in the week and took off on a six-day visit to Argentina's remote, southern region of Patagonia. "I have no other solution for the country," he shrugs, "but to be unpopular."