Montevideo, November 13 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The general strike is not directed against the government but rather aims to deepen the changes proposed in 2004 and 2005, said Daniel Diverio, general secretary of the National Construction Union of Uruguay (SUNCA) and the country's union federation PIT-CNT

In his opinion, there was no better way to reach that goal than “the people taking to the streets,” he said in an interview with Prensa Latina.  On Thursday, thousands of workers marched in Montevideo, responding to the general strike called by the PIT-CNT.

Diverio added the mobilization was part of an action plan formulated by the workers union in early 2015 which demands greater public spending and rejects businesses’ policies of salary freezing.

Such policies, he said, can only be justified in a context of economic recession, which is currently not the case.  Although the Uruguayan economy may be slowing down, “it is not going through a period of recession,” he added.

He admitted that the most important of the social achievements made in the past decades “occurred in this current political configuration (the progressive coalition Broad Front), in power since 2005,” nevertheless emphasizing that “(the workers) fought for them.”

“As this political period is ours,” he explained, “and we need to keep fighting and mobilizing in order to deepen the transformations.”

President Tabare Vazquez's administration has faced various labor conflicts throughout the year especially from the education sector.