The mega reform proposed by the Government has its biggest drawbacks at the labor level. It is the area that caused the most headaches for Javier Milei: the CGT organized the fastest general strike in the history of a President and Justice suspended its effects.
But even here, where they all seem pale, the liberal will be able to say that he has his own bishop. Someone who sits down to negotiate, while others choose intransigence. The head of the union with the most members in the country: Armando Cavalieri, from Commerce, is Milei’s Trojan horse in the union world.
So far, he was the only union member to sit down with members of the Cabinet and even promised to adhere to the new compensation system. The Government will use his figure to try to weaken the CGT with the premature strike defined for January 24.
Double game.
Cavalieri went from sitting at the CGT table and from pondering the first marches against Milei’s reforms, to being the first union member to say yes to the new compensation system, after meeting with two key leaders of the President: Sandra Pettovello, Minister of Human Capital, and Omar Yasín, Secretary of Labor.
The change was abrupt. On December 26, Cavalieri expressed himself in favor of a march by Commerce employees against the DNU: “It is a wake-up call about the need to defend everything achieved. And to demand a future with political stability, but without neglecting the achievements of the workers,” he wrote in a statement. But 48 hours later, he was sitting next to part of Milei’s cabinet to accept the Labor Termination Fund, one of the most important reforms proposed by the Government: the removal of the traditional compensation system, UOCRA style.
The news was given by Minister Pettovello on Twitter: “The union member expressed his support for the Termination Fund figure, included in DNU 70, which establishes a system for collecting immediate and fair compensation in order to be able to face future dismissals. A campaign promise from Javier Milei that today is a reality”, wrote. And he generated anger on the part of the unions.
“What Cavalieri did is regrettable,” Ramón Muerza said., his rival in the last union elections, in an interview on Continental radio. A part of the members does not feel identified with the historic leader. “This man met with the Government to deliver compensation to our employees, given that we have other priorities.”. He should be asking for the reopening of joint ventures,” added the opponent..
While Rodolfo Barra, the Treasury attorney, prepared the appeal to the precautionary measure of the Chamber of Labor, which suspended the labor reform chapter of the DNU, Pettovello and company sought to seduce more unions with Cavalieri as the spearhead. Luis Barrionuevo, from Gastronomicos, who was close in the campaign and then moved away, could be the next target.
Historical.
In 2023, Cavalieri assumed his tenth term at the head of the Commerce union. But his resume is not without stains. In the ’90s, the leader was the protagonist of a series of NOTICIAS covers, after having tried to bribe who would later become director of this magazine, the journalist Edi Zunino. He asked him to stop investigating him in exchange for a shocking sum of money for him and the publisher, which were rejected. The union member was brought to trial, with the relevant evidence, in a case that never prospered.
If the DNU gains strength again, Cavalieri will contribute his mass of members to adhere to the reforms in a movement that will condition the rest of the CGT. While the unions are demanding the measures, the historic union leader preferred to get ahead of the game. That can give him a good advantage, or leave him off side, it depends on Milei’s future.
