Argentina woke up this Thursday paralyzed by a strike by the main labor union against the labor reform, which is close to being sanctioned in Congress. The bill, which is President Javier Milei’s strongest bet for the beginning of the year, enables the extension of the working day up to 12 hours a day, makes layoffs cheaper and reduces employer contributions, among other measures.
The reform has been debated in Deputies since two in the afternoon (local time), after having received it last week. In any case, if it is approved, it must be reviewed again in the chamber of origin because a key modification was introduced. Under pressure from Milei’s allies, who threatened not to support the initiative, which reduced the salary of workers on sick or accident leave by up to 50%. This modification hindered the process of sanctioning the project, which the Government intended to complete this week to display it as a triumph at the opening of ordinary sessions, on March 1.
In the same way as happened last week, the discussion took place during the afternoon in a context of high conflict. There were demonstrations throughout the country, with the epicenter in the square in front of the National Congress, where security forces repressed a small group of riotous protesters with water cannon trucks and pepper spray and detained at least eleven people for “damages”, “resistance to authority” and alleged possession of sharp objects.
Javier Milei has followed the situation from abroad; to ratify his unconditional alignment with Donald Trump and attend the inaugural meeting of his Gaza Peace Board. From Washington—where he sang Burning love out loud and committed the cooperation of the Argentine White Helmets in the missions that are required—, Mieli shared a tweet from the official deputy Lilia Lemoine with a video in which the Kirchnerist Florencia Carignano is seen unplugging microphones “to stop the session.” The day was full of exacerbated episodes of this type. Kirchnerist deputy Horacio Pietragalla, for example, compared the project to slavery and approached the president of the Chamber’s podium to hand him a chain.
When you read and/or listen to the imbeciles who create a cult of forms (I even heard one – a high-ranking speaker – with a severe IQ deficit saying that in democracy the forms matter much more than the content) play this video so they can see what’s in front of them…
VLCC!— Javier Milei (@JMilei)
Closing its plant in the Buenos Aires suburbs and laying off its 920 employees, alleging “changes in market conditions” brought about by Milei, added tension to the day and fueled the resistance of the unions. The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the largest labor union in the country and the organizer of the strike, assured that the 24-hour measure of force — the fourth since Milei arrived at the Casa Rosada, in December 2023 — had 90% follow-up. It affected all types of activities, from public administration, industry and foreign trade to passenger transportation. The airlines canceled about 400 flights, which affected about 64,000 passengers, according to data from the Argentine Chamber of Airlines, and the Argentine Business University estimated losses of 489 million dollars due to the strike, equivalent to 20% of the country’s daily production.
Jorge Sola, one of the three general secretaries of the CGT, assured that since Milei has been in charge of the Executive, 400 formal jobs are lost per day, with a “breakdown in the social and productive fabric.” He argued that the project that reforms labor regulations – in force, with modifications, since 1974, when Peronism governed – has nothing to do with “labor modernization” but rather implies “a setback of 100 years” in terms of rights.
Representing the Government, the Chief of Staff, Manuel Adorni, described the behavior of the union members as “extortive”. “People hate them for a reason, they have an 80% negative image, and how can they not have that image if all they do is complicate the life of the worker,” said the minister, interviewed on a television channel. streaming.
The new legislation contemplates the creation of a fund for compensation at the cost of definancing Social Security and the elimination of the mandatory payment of overtime. It also imposes limits on the right to strike, by establishing minimum services of 75% for essential sectors, which cover a large part of the activities: health, education, transportation, energy and water.
The Government’s argument is that the reform will “modernize” labor legislation and will contribute to revitalizing the formal salaried labor market, which has been stagnant for more than ten years. In fact, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, was surprised on the networks by the lack of euphoria among large businessmen after the approval in the Senate. “We lowered employers’ charges by 85% for new jobs and the subject is not talked about. No cameras celebrate, nothing. I can’t get over my astonishment!” he wrote.
