Leaked Document Show Argentina's Macri Plans Mass Layoffs

Only days after a massive march descended on Buenos Aires demanding conservative President Mauricio Macri act to end mass layoffs, details regarding the Argentine government's intentions to engage in more dismissals in the public sector have been leaked to media outlets.

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The first document, known as the Program of Analysis for Staffing, was sent to government ministries mandating the steps they should take so that they have the “optimum” level of staffing before the end of the calendar year. 

The phrase “optimal staffing” is widely understood to be a euphemism for mean layoffs. According to Pagina 12, some workers have already been asked to fill out questionnaires indicating what diplomas or degrees they have, what their daily work activities consist of, and their working hours.

A second leaked document indicates that contracts with 114,000 public sector workers were “under analysis.” The figure represents over half of public sector contracts.

Unnamed officials in the Ministry of Modernization confirmed the authenticity of the documents but denied that “optimal staffing” necessarily meant layoffs. 

However, the right-wing Macri government has been engaging in a systematic effort to reduce the size of the public sector since arriving to power in late 2015. 

In December 2015, Macro signed a decree allowing for a comprehensive review of staffing and labor contracts, which eventually led to the dismissal of thousands of workers. 

The government has claimed that many of those fired thus far held unnecessary posts created by the previous leftist government to provide jobs to their supporters.

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The mass layoffs promoted by Macri, along with dramatic increases in utilities and costs of living, were the primary reasons for the “Great Federal March” that saw thousands of Argentine workers march from various points throughout the country to the capital on Friday.

The leaked document is seen as a slap to the face to those who demonstrated earlier this week. 

“If we continue like this, we are going to strike and (engage in) mobilization, with a more delicate social situation than last December and with a more delegitimized government,” Luciano Fernandez, a trade union leader, told Pagina 12.

Fernandez also criticized the use of outside consulting firms to conduct the evaluations, which he said will inevitably lead to dismissals.

“Consultants have an economic vision of work, they do not do an analysis from public policy perspective ... The problem with that logic is that inevitably there will be people who are surplus,” said Fernandez.