MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Libertarian gov't wants wage hike for lawmakers reversed

Menem will seek to have the wage increase repealed as per Milei's instructions

Argentina's Lower House Speaker Martin Menem admitted Thursday that a bill was to be submitted to backtrack on the resolution granting wage increases of nearly 30% to lawmakers amid strict austerity measures affecting most of the country's population, particularly the more vulnerable.

Such a decision enraged President Javier Milei's supporters who had him elected last year to strike the privileges of the political caste. However, the resolution would stay in force for Congress workers.

“By order of President Javier Milei, we are going to present a project to RETAIL the increase that was granted to deputies and senators of the Nation automatically, due to resolution 0013/11 signed by the former Senate Speaker Amado Boudou and Lower House Speaker Julián Domínguez in 2011,” Menem wrote on social media.

“Under no circumstances should the deputies and senators of the Nation be exempt from making the sacrifice that the Argentine people are making to get out of the crisis,” he added.

Read also: Argentine lawmakers from the “political caste” get wage increase

The measure dating back to Feb. 23 was for the staff and did not mention lawmakers. However, the 2011 resolution tied their salaries to the Congressional workers' bargaining agreement.

“I do not agree with the increase of their salaries,” Milei said while announcing that he had instructed fellow Libertarian Menem to “remove the clause and move forward with something that is unlinked and that the politicians vote to see what they want to do with the allowances and that they are exposed before society.”

“They should not tell me that it is not enough for them because there are many people who are fairing worse off with much less money,” Milei went on.