The Cattle Union Declares a Total Strike: “Enough Governing with Someone Else’s Hide”

A conversation with the movement’s spokesperson, who demands less fiscal milking and refuses to join yet another commission.

Our special correspondent arrived at the farm after the assembly had already rejected the agenda for being too similar to the slaughterhouse’s.
He was received by a firm-eyed Hereford, elected spokesperson for her ability to listen to nonsense without stopping chewing her cud.
Beside her, a Holstein was taking the minutes.
They had chosen the only one with experience producing white documents.
What led you to organize?
The habit of being counted on without being consulted.
The Government meets, calculates exports, projects tax revenue and disposes of the hide.
We find out when the truck arrives.
But you are a pillar of the national economy.
We would rather be partners.
No one asks a pillar how much weight it can bear until it collapses.
What is your main demand?
That they let us do the math.
We sell in dollars, pay in pesos and, when we ask about the difference, they tell us we need to look at the big picture.
The last one who looked at the big picture discovered she was surrounded by fences.
Have you tried speaking with the authorities?
They received us very well.
There was air conditioning, coffee and a presentation on the opportunities facing the sector.
And what happened?
Nothing, but we recognized our own work.
There was milk, leather chairs and a budget financed in part by us.
The spokesperson interrupted the conversation to shoo away a fly.
She clarified that it was a direct intervention, still without ministerial mediation.
What response did they give you regarding costs?
That we need to improve productivity.
One colleague asked whether that meant producing more milk.
They said yes.
She asked whether they would reduce any expenses.
They told her not to change the subject.
And public utility rates?
They explained that public companies belong to everyone.
So we asked to withdraw our share in grass.
Apparently, we are owners only when losses need to be covered.
Are you opposed to the State?
Not at all.
We need roads, security and sanitary controls.
We even accept someone counting the cows.
What worries us is that there are more and more people counting and fewer and fewer cows.
Did they offer you any concrete solution?
A dialogue table.
We asked whether it could be edible.
Don’t you think you are being intransigent?
We have accepted ear tags, vaccinations, inspections, forms and traceability.
The State can find out in seconds where I was born, what I ate and which pasture I passed through.
Now ask it where what it collected from me ended up.
From the back of the assembly, a steer proposed demanding reciprocity in traceability.
The motion was approved by acclamation, although an old cow warned that they would have to buy far too many ear tags.
Will the strike continue indefinitely?
Until a serious proposal appears or we run out of grass.
And if the Government imports meat?
Let it import taxpayers too.
We are quite busy supporting the ones it already has.
Who is going to pay the consequences of this measure?
That was the first question they asked us.
We were pleased to discover they knew how to formulate it.
As we were putting away the recorder, news arrived that the authorities had created a commission to address the conflict.
It would have a presidency, vice presidency, technical secretariat, advisers and its own budget.
The Hereford asked to read the statement.
She went over it slowly and handed it back to us.
Are you calling off the strike? we asked.
On the contrary.
They have just approved another feeding trough, and not a single cow fits in it.

Tax pressure
Cost of the State
Bureaucracy and production

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