The gang of thugs organised by José Pedraza and the bureaucracy of the railway workers’ union, (Unión Ferroviaria), attacked a group of sacked workers from the General Roca Line with firearms, murdering the Partido Obrero activist Mariano Ferreyra and injuring two other protesters.

It is well-known that the subcontracted and sacked workers of the General Roca Line, in whose struggle the railway workers of the PTS are active, have been repeatedly attacked by groups of thugs in the pay of the millionaire leaders of the “Union Ferroviaria”, who have allowed thousands of workers to be sacked and then rehired on half the pay of their colleagues and with worse conditions. This time it was an outright attack with firearms. The attack was overseen by the Buenos Aires police who left the area free so that the gang of murderers could attack the railway workers and the organisations which mobilised to support them.

Within hours of the killing there was a demonstration to condemn this crime in the centre of Buenos Aires city. All shop stewards’ and other rank-and-file organisations – like those at Kraft and on the underground railway network – along with students’ unions in struggle, human rights organisations and left-wing groups, should mobilise massively in order to call for the punishment of those responsible and to drive out of the workers’ movement for good the vicious thugs in the pay of right-wing leaders like Pedraza, leaders who are protected and supported by the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

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