Argentine civil servants looking at mandatory staycation | beyondbrics

Argentine civil servants in the central province of C?rdoba have been given an early Christmas present: January off.

The idea is not exactly new ? it was successfully employed in January this year, for example ? but then neither is the cash crunch facing many Argentine provinces, which rely on the central government for key funds.

C?rdoba, furthermore, is run by a governor, Jos? Manuel de la Sota, with presidential aspirations in 2015, who has clashed in a high-profile fashion with Cristina Fern?ndez, the president, and her government in recent months.

Although provincial staff will still get paid in January, the savings will come from them not deploying provincial resources, as well as from logistics ? not having to power lights and fans during the hot Southern hemisphere summer month, for example. The enforced holiday, however, does not apply to hospital, police and prison workers.

The decree announcing the measure spoke of an ?orderly management of material and human resources to rationalise public spending?.

So what should workers in C?rdoba do with their enforced holidays? The province is home to breathtaking scenery, but what if the beach is calling? Unfortunately, C?rdoba is slap-bang in the middle of the county, far from the coast. And the central government has just put up the price of domestic air tickets by 20 per cent ? the third rise this year, bringing the cost of flying to Buenos Aires, gateway to the Atlantic coast resorts, to as much as $250 one way (and before taxes).

If that?s hard to swallow, going abroad isn?t much of an option either. According to El Cronista Comercial, an opposition business newspaper, Argentina?s intensifying restrictions on dollar purchases now mean people are only being allowed to buy $30 per day for travel abroad (in some cases $30 per day, per family, it adds).

Perhaps C?rdoba?s civil servants will find there?s no place like home this January.

Related links:
Friends ? don?t let friends leave the Republic of Argentina to litigate the sovereign debt trial of the century, FT Alphaville
Argentina: workers take to the streets, beyondbrics
Latam Airlines: Argentina hits below the belt, beyondbrics

Source: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/11/21/argentine-civil-servants-looking-at-mandatory-staycation/

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