The CGT union confederation will meet on Thursday to decide its next move in the ongoing turmoil surrounding utility prices.
In a late-night session, the Senate this morning approved a bill to freeze future price increases on consumer utility services and wind-back rates to November 2017 levels.
President Mauricio Macri has already confirmed he will veto the law, which his government says would otherwise jeopardise its attempts to cut the fiscal deficit.
“The law is already vetoed”, Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña told reporters Thursday morning.
“As we’ve argued, this law does not respect the constitucional mandate of the Parliament... It is not the responsibility of Congress to determine utility prices”, he said.
The financial implications of the law, Peña added, “are the equivalent of all public works projects in the provinces of the country; the entire university system in Argentina; the full budget for security and defence of our republic”.
The decree will be made public sometime today, Peña confirmed.
GENERAL STRIKE
The leader of the main Peronist bloc in the Senate, Río Negro Senator Miguel Angel Pichetto, will meet with the CGT union confederation on Thursday.
The CGT is believed to be preparing a date for a general strike which will be announced this week.
CGT leaders met with Catholic Church leaders this week and will partake in the so-called Federal March on Friday alongside left-wing social and political groups.
-TIMES
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