Some women wore black funeral attire and sported flower crowns, while other people in the procession in Buenos Aires carried a gigantic coffin.
But this funeral procession in the Argentine capital was not honouring a person.
Instead it was to mourn the ‘death’ of the wages of Argentine workers in a country where is expected to hit 90 per cent by the end of this year, eating up workers’ purchasing power despite years of government attempts to curb price increases.
“The situation for the workers is devastating,” Melisa Gargarello, a representative of the Front of Organisations in Struggle (FOL), the protest’s organiser, told Reuters.
“Before the middle of the month we don’t have any more salary, it’s not enough.”
One protester carried a “clinical history” for Argentine wages – a chart showing how inflation has eaten up the value of pay.
While Australia and much of the world is battling high single-digit inflation this year, Argentina’s struggles are in a different category.
“The paycheck has died” read a banner in the symbolic procession, which toured the main streets of Argentina’s capital and ended in front of the presidential palace.
Inflation in Argentina is expected to hit 90 per cent by the end of this year. Source: AFP / EMILIANO LASALVIA
The flower crowns worn by women carried the message “RIP the minimum wage”.
The country’s official monthly minimum wage stands at 45,540 Argentine pesos ($A485) while a basic food basket for a family of two adults and two children costs more than twice that amount at 111,298 pesos ($A1189), according to the national statistics institute INDEC.
Years of political efforts to curb inflation have done little to abate price increases, and in July the country registered its highest inflation rate in 20 years.
The latest effort involves the appointment of a new economy minister, Sergio Massa, who has been granted expanded powers to try to tame inflation.
Argentines have dubbed him a “superminister”.
“Today we are holding a symbolic funeral for wages, which we have to say expresses the situation that all workers in Argentina are experiencing,” FOL’s Maximiliano Maita said.
right now, with the war in Ukraine and the effects of the pandemic causing supply chain issues and driving up the cost of goods and services.
Wages in Australia stagnate despite low unemployment rate
Australia’s unemployment rate has dropped to , according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures.
While a low jobless rate has historically resulted in Australian workers’ wages rising, Employment Minister Tony Burke said that link had weakened.
“So effectively the hydraulic pressure of unemployment being low putting upward pressure on wages, that pressure’s still there, but now it’s coming through in pipes that have all sorts of leaks coming out of them,” he said.
Mr Burke said his government had already started closing these loopholes by advocating for a boost in the minimum wage and improving protections for gig workers, and was now focused on firing up bargaining.
Opposition employment spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was alarming to see the drop in the participation rate and the loss of 86,000 full time jobs.
She called on the government to allow older Australians to work more without affecting their pensions.
ABS data shows despite decades-low unemployment, wage growth is well below the current 6.1 per cent .
The ABS also released data on Thursday showing average weekly wage and salary earnings rose by 1.9 per cent in the year to May, to $1769.80 a week.
Wage growth will be a major discussion point at next month.
