GERARDO MARTINEZ, ARGENTINE WORKERS DELEGATE’S STATEMENT. 98th SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE

Geneva, 11 June 2009

Mr. President:
Firstly, I want to congratulate you on your appointment. A year ago, most of us were calling for a fairer globalization and for an economic model with social content, in order to bring an end to poverty, marginalization and hunger around the world.
Today, we are in a more serious situation. Everything is worse. We are facing the so-called “Tsunami of the financial crisis”, which has affected all our national economies.

The workers will not pay for this crisis. We shall not be the adjustment variable of this crisis as we have been in the past.

The Group of 20 (G20) has said that the International Monetary Fund will be the financial body that will bring rescue. But we believe that we first have to overhaul that body because we know that it is maintaining the same conditions as before and we do not want to go backwards.
Many of the measures cited in the Report have been taken in my country since 2003, despite the fact that they were constantly criticized by the supporters of the “Washington Consensus”.
New political winds are blowing in our region. Some governments have discarded the neoliberal policies of the 1990s and have reinstated the role of the State in guaranteeing a fairer society.
The Government and society in Argentina want to be part of a structural change. We have recovered the work culture and social dialogue has been the foundation of the new model for the nation.
A significant number of jobs have been created, which is reflected in the drop in the unemployment rate and an increase in productive development, which emphasizes social integration.
Argentina is mending its social fabric and recovering laws that protect the participation and dignity of workers, engaging actively in collective bargaining with the aim of improving working and wage conditions.
Through tripartite dialogue, we are in the process of creating an Economic and Social Development Council, which will be a tool through which to channel the Government’s positive action into state policy.
We would like to point out that the Government has been bold in its decision to recoup pension funds so as to guarantee social security and put it in the hands of the people.
Undoubtedly, this model that reinvigorates the production system and employment is not going to be changed. We must emerge from the crisis by going further in the State’s policies relating to our model of development, which incorporates social justice and full employment.
Much remains to be done, but we must not allow this crisis to condemn us to a cycle of stagnation.
Mr. President:
We, the workers, need social protection world-wide in order to protect our social and labour rights.
We need a minimum wage that guarantees a universal social floor to cover the basic needs of workers and their families.
We believe it is necessary to establish sustainable development guidelines, which respect the environment and fight against climate change.
That is why, we believe that the Global Jobs Pact is going to be an effective tool to tackle the effects of the international crisis and promote the application of the principles of Social Justice and Decent Work.
According to the World Social Forum, another world is possible, and we share that view.
We, the workers of Argentina and the region, call for the utopia of a global wage guaranteeing a fair distribution of profits, with decent wages in a fair society with full employment, to be made a reality.

Thank you very much.