Jorge Altamira (born José Saúl Wermus in 1942), is an Argentine activist and politician leading the Workers' Party (''Partido Obrero'') in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. He was born José Saúl Wermus (sometimes spelled "José Huermus") in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, on 14 April 1942. Altamira's parents were ethnically Jewish but spiritually atheist and he was raised without religious conviction. Son of a

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

worker active in the Graphist Union, Altamira began participating in the

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

at an early age, and took part in a number of strikes. Altamira had a son. He founded an advocacy magazine, ''Política Obrera'', in 1964, and, later a party by the same name. The party was banned following the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

, however, though in 1982, amid the political liberalization that preceded the 1983 return to democracy, he founded the Workers' Party of Argentina. He was among five Workers' Party leaders arrested during the 1989 riots in Argentina on suspicion of

incitement In criminal law, incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime. Depending on the jurisdiction, some or all types of incitement may be illegal. Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but ...

; the charges were later dropped. Altamira was elected to the

Buenos Aires City Legislature The Buenos Aires City Legislature ( es, Legislatura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, links=no, commonly known as the ) is a central part of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is housed in the Legislature Palace ( es ...

in 2000. He pursued a vigorous

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights infl ...

agenda during his tenure at the legislature, and proposed a six-hour workday for

Buenos Aires Metro The Buenos Aires Underground ( es, Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, links=no), locally known as Subte (), is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network (Plaza de Mayo–Pla ...

employees working underground, a law protecting

workers' self-management Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-management is a def ...

of bankrupt businesses, a hike in the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

to cover the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

in the city (higher than in most of the rest of Argentina), and a

universal healthcare coverage Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...

law. He has unsuccessfully run for both a seat in the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress ( es, Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 ...

, as well as for the Presidency, and is one of the nine members of the

Co-ordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International The Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International (CRFI) was a Trotskyist international organisation. Its name in Spanish was ''Coordinadora por la Refundación de la Cuarta Internacional''. It was formed in 2004 at a c ...

. He was the

Workers' Left Front The Workers' Left Front – Unity ( es, Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores – Unidad, FIT-U) is an alliance of initially three Trotskyist parties in Argentina formed to fight a number of elections in 2011, announced at a press conference ...

's no. 1 candidate for

city in the

2013 Argentine legislative election Legislative elections were held in Argentina on 27 October 2013. Open primary elections (PASO) were previously held on 11 August 2013 to determine eligible party lists for the general election. As in 2011 – when such primaries were held for the ...

, but he did not obtain a seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altamira, Jorge 1942 births Living people Argentine communists Argentine atheists Argentine Trotskyists Politicians from Buenos Aires Workers' Party (Argentina) politicians Candidates for President of Argentina