Buenos Aires, June 4 (RHC)-- Labor unions from Argentina’s energy sector are protesting the policies imposed by President Mauricio Macri.  Argentinean oil and gas workers have announced that they will launch a nationwide strike in order to reject the recent increase in gas prices imposed by the right-wing government of Mauricio Macri.

The job action will include a strike of around 1,5000 and 2,000 workers from gas stations located in the north of the country, effectively shutting off service.

Argentineans have seen the price of gas spike by up to 600 percent in less than five months as the new conservative government unapologetically continues to push neo-liberal policies.  Union organizers say that strikes and protests will continue until the government of Mauricio Macri decides to change their destructive economic policies.

In the first five months of Macri’s administration, over 154,000 workers in the public and private sectors have lost their jobs amid a major push toward fiscal austerity.  Meanwhile, the cost of basic services and utilities has skyrocketed, while social programs begun by the Kirchner-Fernandez governments have been slashed.

President Macri is ideologically disposed to reducing the public sector, arguing that private investment should be the source of new employment.