Argentine bank workers strike again

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Argentine bank workers went on strike Wednesday to demand higher wages in the final protest of a turbulent 2003.

The disgruntled employees walked off the job at noon though before dumping tons of shredded documents out the windows of foreign banks, littering the streets of Buenos Aires with the refuse.

The strike follows Tuesday's protests in which hundreds of bank employees marched on the foreign banks, setting off smoke bombs and smashing windows.

"We are going to protest as long as necessary," said bank clerk union leader Juan Jose Zanola to local news sources on Tuesday. "The bankers are laughing at us."

The protesters want the banks to comply with a government-imposed pay raise passed earlier this year that would increase their salaries by 200 pesos (about $66) a month.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner -- who assumed office in May -- has spent the last eight months trying to draw Argentina out of more than two years of economic decline. Many people here, however, are growing increasingly impatient with his efforts to undue years of corrupt political practices and economic mismanagement by the nation's former leaders.

December marks the two-year anniversary of Argentina's political and economic collapse when protesters took to the streets to decry a nationwide banking freeze and political corruption. Some 27 people were killed in weeks of rioting that forced then President Fernando de la Rua to resign.

Four caretaker presidents held Argentina's highest office in two weeks time before Eduardo Duhalde managed to maintain the office until May of this year.

Since then, Kirchner has made some progress, garnering an approval rating that hovers around a two-thirds majority of Argentines who believe he is doing a good job.

In September, Kirchner helped orchestrated the restructuring of $21 billion of IMF debt over the next four years. The deal requires that Argentina maintain a budget surplus of 3 percent of its gross domestic product, a deal for which Kirchner fought hard. The IMF initially wanted the surplus to hit 4 percent, but the president negotiated a lower rate so that Argentina could invest federal funds in anti-poverty and public works measures.

At the time, Kirchner warned that the new agreement was "not a panacea" and that Argentina still had a lot of changes to undergo.

More recently, the president called on all Argentines to play a role in correcting what he called the nation's "moral debacle," referring to both its economics and a legacy of political and police corruption.

"We have the political and moral obligation to purify all the police forces of the country," said Kirchner in November. "I said it before: 'No one should be afraid to leave their home.'"

Striking a chord closer to the hearts of many Argentines, Kirchner is reopening government files dating back to the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Previous administrations had attempted to keep the legacy of some 30,000 missing citizens at the hands of a dictatorial regime from being examined.

While his efforts have been lauded at home and abroad, many of Argentina's jobless -- around 15 percent -- grow increasingly impatient. The protests continue on an almost daily basis and at times turn violent.

Earlier this month more than two dozen people were injured during a protest in a busy city square when a bomb went off. No one was killed and officials are still uncertain of the explosive device's origin.