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President Mauricio Macri announced an audit of the country's major workers' unions as they prepare for the largest strike yet against the conservative government, a move labor leaders have blasted as a strategy aimed at suppressing the work stoppage and mass march.
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Minister of Labor Jorge Triaca announced he will seek to investigate irregularities in the unions' internal election processes and identify possible cases of violation of a rule that stipulates a minimum 30 percent female participation quota in union leadership.
In the case of such findings, the ministry could replace the three main heads of the workers' unions in Argentina and demand new elections to choose new leadership.
Argentina's largest labor union — and one of the largest in the world — the General Confederation of Labor, known as CGT, has said the government took the decision as a means to pressure the leadership of the unions to call off the protest.
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The general strike is scheduled to take place Thursday, in the wake of a steady wave of marches against the government to protest controversial austerity policies. Former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called her supporters to attend the marches.
"It's something that has been happening in Argentina in recent times, the famous crack is something that was always present in Argentina," said union leader Juan Carlos Schmid.
Labor issues were in the spotlight throughout Macri's first year in office, as hundreds of thousands of public and private sector workers lost their jobs, prompting fears of rising levels of poverty in the South American country.
Argentina also faces an election this year, with legislative elections set to take place mid-October.
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