Vol.61/No.31           September 15, 1997 
 
 
Workers Push Back Antilabor Laws In Argentina  
In order to avoid a major confrontation with the labor movement, the government of Argentine president Carlos Menem decided August 26 to postpone debate on new antilabor laws until after the October parliamentary elections. Just days earlier, Finance Minister Roque Fernández had threatened that the laws would be imposed by decree if the legislature didn't act on them. A one-day strike paralyzed much of the country August 14, as workers demanded a halt to government austerity and denounced the antilabor bills. Above, demonstrators run after setting fire to a bus in La Plata during the August 14 work stoppage. Even the main union federation, the General Labor Federation (CGT) that generally backs Menem and had not supported the August 14 protests, threatened to strike if the antilabor legislation was imposed by decree.  
 
 
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