Argentine Teachers Walk Off Job

Demonstrators march in Neuquen, some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Buenos Aires Monday, April 9, 2007, asking for justice, after a 41-year-old high school teacher, Carlos Fuentealba, died Thursday due to head injuries received during disturbances in this city while teachers were demanding higher pay. Tens of thousands of demonstrators protested across Argentina, demanding justice. (AP Photo/Yamil Regules) (Yamil Regules - AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Thousands of teachers walked out of public schools across Argentina Monday in a daylong strike to demand higher pay and justice for a slain colleague.

Some 30,000 teachers, sympathetic labor groups and human rights activists rallied in downtown Buenos Aires and then marched through the capital.

The strike _ which paralyzed activity at public schools across the country _ posed a challenge to the center-left government of President Nestor Kirchner as he bids to end Argentina's double-digit inflation.

Teachers complained that pay hikes have not kept pace with inflation and protested the death last week of a high school teacher in clashes with police during a demonstration in the southwestern province of Neuquen.

The strike tapped widespread anger among teachers and labor groups, who snarled traffic in the Argentine capital for hours. Some strikers chanted, "No to repression, yes to life!"

Unionized transport workers also briefly shut down several subway lines in solidarity.

Teachers from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina's extreme south to Salta in the north also held demonstrations.

Kirchner, whose ruling Peronists are heavily favored in the October election, expressed regret over the teacher's death but defended his government's efforts to improve the economy.

"It is legitimate that everyone wants to earn more, but everything has a limit," he said. "It's not necessary to tear down this process that has cost us so much effort to build."