A general strike has paralyzed Argentina this Thursday, as labor unions oppose the government’s austerity measures.
Truck and bus drivers, factory workers, teachers, airport workers and government customs agents abstained from work for 24 hours as of midnight. The groups expect the strike to put pressure on president Mauricio Macri.
"The situation is dramatic," Julio Piumato, a spokesman for labor umbrella group CGT, said in a telephone interview, adding that the group is not promoting a political party, but the rectification of the country’s economic and social policies.
The effect of the strike on the local steel industry is yet to be known.