Noemí Rial
Encyclopedia
Noemí Rial is a lawyer and politician from Argentina
serving at present as her country’s Secretary of Labor. She was appointed by former President
Eduardo Duhalde
(2002–2003) and confirmed by presidents Néstor Kirchner
(2003–2007) and Cristina Fernández, elected in 2007.
immigrants that arrived in Buenos Aires
at the beginning of the 20th century.
Her father, Antonio Rial was an usher at the Teatro Astral. He was also a member of Argentina’s Socialist Party
(PS). However, in the ‘40s he quit the Party because he believed that it no longer stood for the actual interests of Argentine workers.
Her mother, Áurea García, owned a haberdashery and firmly believed in learning as the only way to social ascent.
Noemí was born in Buenos Aires
, some blocks away from the Argentine National Congress
, and spent most of her childhood in the neighborhood.
She went to Normal School
Nr. 9, “Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
”, where she became a normal teacher. At the time, she wanted to be a doctor
. However, she finally decided to study in Law School
.
During the 60’s, Noemí entered the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) Law School
, and by the end of her studies, she made a thesis on abortion in the Argentine Penal Code.
The 70’s marked the beginning of her interest in politics, as she became a member of Argentina’s Juventud Peronista.
In 1972 she became a lawyer and took a teaching position at the Political Law Department, with professors Hernández and Sinigaglia.
Two years later, the Department was intervened and its teachers, removed. In March 1976, Hernández y Sinigaglia became two more victims of forced disappearance
in Argentina.
Soon after democracy returned to Argentina, Noemí resumed teaching at the Department of Labor and Social Security of the University of Buenos Aires
Law School
, where she has been working for the last twenty years. Since then, she has also taught at different post-graduate schools, not only in Argentina
, but also in foreign countries.
From 1991 to 1993 Noemí Rial was appointed head of the Legal Department of the Argentine National Administration of Health Insurances (ANSAL).
Later on, she also worked as an advisor of former Congressman Roberto Digón, at the Labor Commission of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
. Digón was one of the main opponents to work flexibilization legislation.
leaders that sought to change Argentine trade unionism, called for the first general strike
against the Argentine military government
National Reorganization Process
.
The military government
’s response was brutal: all trade union leaders involved in the strike were sent to prison. Roberto García, from the taxi driver’s union, Roberto Digón from the tobacco employees union and Raúl Ravitti from the Unión Ferroviaria were among those imprisoned.
At the time, a young lawyer undertook the defense of the trade union leaders and managed to set them free: it was Noemí Rial.
(ILO
), a post she held until 2002. From then on, she has been one of ILO’s government representatives.
Noemí Rial has also been president of ILO
’s Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, and she has had an important role in promoting the re-election of Juan Somavía
(2008), the first ILO
General Director of South-American origin, and also a supporter of labor as a means of social integration and of social democratic values promotion in South America.
In the midst of Argentina’s worst financial and socio-economic crisis
, with unemployment rates of up to 22%, both women helped the Duhalde
administration implement the largest social contingency plan ever set up by a South American country: the Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Program, reaching more than two million persons.
Since May 2003 she has been working with Minister Carlos Tomada
at Argentina’s Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security.
From then on, the main aim of the administration has been the recovery of labor as a central value to generate social inclusion and an active citizenship
.
To that end, Noemí Rial has had a key role in re-instating collective bargaining
as a leading tool for social dialogue
, salary negotiation and labor quality.
Thus, from a negligible quantity of collective agreements
ratified by Argentina
’s Labor Ministry, as of 2008 there were more than 1.500.
for the Frente para la Victoria.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
serving at present as her country’s Secretary of Labor. She was appointed by former President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Duhalde
-External links:...
(2002–2003) and confirmed by presidents Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
(2003–2007) and Cristina Fernández, elected in 2007.
Early years
Noemí Rial was born to a family of SpanishSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
immigrants that arrived in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
at the beginning of the 20th century.
Her father, Antonio Rial was an usher at the Teatro Astral. He was also a member of Argentina’s Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Argentina)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....
(PS). However, in the ‘40s he quit the Party because he believed that it no longer stood for the actual interests of Argentine workers.
Her mother, Áurea García, owned a haberdashery and firmly believed in learning as the only way to social ascent.
Noemí was born in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, some blocks away from the Argentine National Congress
Argentine National Congress
The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....
, and spent most of her childhood in the neighborhood.
She went to Normal School
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
Nr. 9, “Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the seventh President of Argentina. His writing spanned a wide range of genres and topics, from journalism to autobiography, to political philosophy and history...
”, where she became a normal teacher. At the time, she wanted to be a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. However, she finally decided to study in Law School
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
.
Law School
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
, and by the end of her studies, she made a thesis on abortion in the Argentine Penal Code.
The 70’s marked the beginning of her interest in politics, as she became a member of Argentina’s Juventud Peronista.
In 1972 she became a lawyer and took a teaching position at the Political Law Department, with professors Hernández and Sinigaglia.
Two years later, the Department was intervened and its teachers, removed. In March 1976, Hernández y Sinigaglia became two more victims of forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
in Argentina.
Professional Activity
During the military dictatorship, Noemí worked as a full time lawyer, defending individual workers as well as unions.Soon after democracy returned to Argentina, Noemí resumed teaching at the Department of Labor and Social Security of the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
Law School
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
, where she has been working for the last twenty years. Since then, she has also taught at different post-graduate schools, not only in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, but also in foreign countries.
From 1991 to 1993 Noemí Rial was appointed head of the Legal Department of the Argentine National Administration of Health Insurances (ANSAL).
Later on, she also worked as an advisor of former Congressman Roberto Digón, at the Labor Commission of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
. Digón was one of the main opponents to work flexibilization legislation.
Human Rights
On 27 April 1979 ‘The 25’, a group of young trade unionTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leaders that sought to change Argentine trade unionism, called for the first general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
against the Argentine military government
Military government
Military government can refer to conditions under either Military occupation, or Military dictatorship.-Military Government:Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory.The Hague Conventions of 1907 specify...
National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
.
The military government
Military government
Military government can refer to conditions under either Military occupation, or Military dictatorship.-Military Government:Military government is the form of administration by which an occupying power exercises governmental authority over occupied territory.The Hague Conventions of 1907 specify...
’s response was brutal: all trade union leaders involved in the strike were sent to prison. Roberto García, from the taxi driver’s union, Roberto Digón from the tobacco employees union and Raúl Ravitti from the Unión Ferroviaria were among those imprisoned.
At the time, a young lawyer undertook the defense of the trade union leaders and managed to set them free: it was Noemí Rial.
International Activities
By the mid ‘90s, Noemí Rial became the first Argentine woman lawyer of the Argentine General Confederation of Labour (CGT). In 1995 she was chosen representative for the worker’s group at the International Labour OrganizationInternational Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
(ILO
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
), a post she held until 2002. From then on, she has been one of ILO’s government representatives.
Noemí Rial has also been president of ILO
Ilo
Ilo is a port city in southern Peru, with some 58,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the Moquegua Region and capital of the province of Ilo.-History:...
’s Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, and she has had an important role in promoting the re-election of Juan Somavía
Juan Somavía
Juan Somavía is the current Director-General of the International Labour Organization .He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998.-Term as Director-General:...
(2008), the first ILO
Ilo
Ilo is a port city in southern Peru, with some 58,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the Moquegua Region and capital of the province of Ilo.-History:...
General Director of South-American origin, and also a supporter of labor as a means of social integration and of social democratic values promotion in South America.
Public activity
In May 2002, Noemí Rial was called by Argentine Labor Minister Graciela Camaño to be her Labor Secretary. Thus, she became the first Argentine woman to hold this positionIn the midst of Argentina’s worst financial and socio-economic crisis
Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002)
The Argentine economic crisis was a financial situation, tied to poilitical unrest, that affected Argentina's economy during the late 1990s and early 2000s...
, with unemployment rates of up to 22%, both women helped the Duhalde
Duhalde
The Basque surname Duhalde can refer to:* Eduardo Duhalde, former Argentine president* Alfredo Duhalde, ex provisional Chilean president* Argentine Senator Hilda de Duhalde* Jean-Baptiste Du Halde...
administration implement the largest social contingency plan ever set up by a South American country: the Jefes y Jefas de Hogar Program, reaching more than two million persons.
Since May 2003 she has been working with Minister Carlos Tomada
Carlos Tomada
Carlos Alfonso Tomada is an Argentine Peronist politician who serves as the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security. Tomada was appointed by former President Néstor Kirchner, and reappointed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.-Biography:Tomada was born in the Palermo...
at Argentina’s Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security.
From then on, the main aim of the administration has been the recovery of labor as a central value to generate social inclusion and an active citizenship
Active citizenship
Active citizenship refers to a philosophy espoused by organizations and educational institutions which advocates that members of companies or nation-states have certain roles and responsibilities to society and the environment, although those members may not have specific governing roles.Active...
.
To that end, Noemí Rial has had a key role in re-instating collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
as a leading tool for social dialogue
Social dialogue
A social dialogue can be any communication activity involving social partners intended to influence the arrangement and development of work related issues...
, salary negotiation and labor quality.
Thus, from a negligible quantity of collective agreements
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
ratified by Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
’s Labor Ministry, as of 2008 there were more than 1.500.
Politics
In May 2009, Noemí Rial became a candidate to the Argentine Chamber of DeputiesArgentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
for the Frente para la Victoria.
External links
- CV Noemí Rial, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of the Argentine Republic (MTESS).
- Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of the Argentine Republic http://www.trabajo.gov.ar
- Noemí Rial agasajada por mujeres ferroviarias, Rieles Multimedio, 22-05-2009.
- Noemí Rial recorrió el barrio de Lugano, Yahoo Noticias, 23-05-2009.
- Noemí Rial: tenemos una gestión para mostrar, Diario ‘El Argentino’, 24-05-2009.