Standard expanded the amount of forced activities to provide services during a stoppage; National Labor Court decision accepted an injunction filed by the General Labor Confederation
The Argentine court suspended, on Monday (2), part of a decree of the president who limited the right to strike and expanded the number of activities forced to provide services during a stoppage. The decision of the National Labor Court accepted an injunction filed by the General Labor Confederation (CGT), Argentina’s main trade union center.
The Court decided to “accept the petitioned precautionary measure and provisionally suspend the effects of articles 2 and 3 of the DNU [decreto de necessidade e urgência] 340/25 (…) ”Signed by Milei two weeks ago.
Until this decree, health, hospital, energy, water supply and air traffic control were considered essential. The new standard added in its articles 2 and 3, maritime and river transportation, port and customs services, education and telecommunications, among many others. In addition, it created another category of “transcendental importance” activities, including people’s transportation, construction, food industry and gastronomy.
With the decree, the essential activities, whose operation in case of strike were determined so far by consensus, should be guaranteed by 75%, and the transcendants in 50%. If these requirements were not met, unions could be the target of fines, sanctions or even loss of union law.
The measure caused the repudiation of the main local trade union centrals, labor lawyers associations and legal study centers, which they considered it curtailing the right to strike.
The CGT celebrated, on Monday, the decision in a statement in which it said that “it will continue to wage the battles it has to stop in order to guarantee and safeguard the rights of workers.”
Upon taking office in December 2023, Milei published a megadecret that included a labor chapter with similar measures. But the Argentine justice suspended him in August 2024 for unconstitutionality. Now, the project is expected to be examined by the Supreme Court. The CGT and the main trade union centrals have held three general strikes since Milei reached the presidency, the latest on April 10.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Nátaly Tenório
