Argentine bank workers go on strike

Bank workers in Argentina have staged a nationwide strike to protest current work conditions in the financial sector.

According to Press TV, Argentina’s entire banking system was disrupted by striking employees who were outraged by thousands of job cuts and high income taxes imposed on their salaries, which are already undermined by a first quarter inflation rate of 40 percent.

The demonstrators claimed that banks try to keep their high profit margins at the workers’ cost.

“The walkout is our last resort, we have been negotiating thoroughly with the banks for months, but they didn’t accept any demands, the financial institutions are those that must pay for the costs of the crisis not the workers,” a protester told the Press TV correspondent.

Government officials have said the best way to distribute wealth is income tax.

Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Jorge Capitanich said “those who are against the income tax are actually standing by the rich. Our government must fight for more equity and provide primary assistance to unemployed people.”

Sergio Palazzo of the bank workers’ union told the Press TV correspondent “recent central bank reports showed that banks doubled their profits in just one year. Then who has higher incomes, the banks or the workers? Ninety percent of the banks’ workers took to the street to demand an answer to this question.”

This is Argentina’s third major nationwide strike by bank workers this year.