The Argentine parliament approved, in the early hours of this Friday (20), the labor reform proposed by President Javier Milei, after a session lasting around ten hours. There were 135 votes in favor of the project and 115 against the general text of the project. No abstentions were recorded.
Due to changes, such as the elimination of an article on sick leave, the reform returns to the Argentine Senate, which already existed. Argentine deputies remain in session, voting on excerpts of the text in private.
The Argentine government celebrated the approval in a publication on the social network
“The approval of the law means the creation of formal jobs, less informality, labor standards adapted to the 21st century, less bureaucracy, greater dynamism in labor relations and, most important of all, the end of the litigation industry in the Argentine Republic”, says the text.
— Office of the President (@OPRArgentina)
The government argues that the reform will stimulate investment and the creation of formal jobs. Supporters point out that the current legislation, dating from 1974, needs to be modernized to keep up with the transformations that have occurred in the world of work over the last five decades.
According to them, the emergence of new technologies such as computing, IT and cell phones created new professions and extinguished others, making it necessary to update laws.
Proponents of the reform also highlight that reducing charges for companies can encourage the formalization of work in a country where 40% of workers are informal.
. Among the main points questioned is the reduction in severance pay, seen as a loss of acquired rights.
“The president chose foreign interests, a product of the State’s mismanagement, instead of defending the Argentines who voted for him. Every five or six times, he asks the IMF for financial help [Fundo Monetário Internacional]to the United States and who knows who else”, pondered the deputy of União pela Pátria, Máximo Kirchner.
“This law appears to be a new IMF whim that the president cannot say no to, as the country will collapse. Voting in favor of this law is voting for failure.”
The discussions were and the aftermath of strikes against the measures. Throughout the afternoon, protesters who gathered on Avenida Rivadavia, in Buenos Aires, the country’s capital, tried to break through a blockade formed by the Federal Police and the Gendarmerie between Congress Square and the Legislative Palace, in addition to .
The protests were repressed by the police with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. According to the Argentine newspaper Clarín, 12 people were arrested.
Kirchnerist deputies tried to block the project’s progress, but situationist parliamentarians sought to speed up the vote by reducing the list of speakers. Eventually, the ruling La Libertad Avanza party relented and allowed all deputies to speak, which led to discussions late into the night.
Sister of the president and general secretary of the Presidency of Argentina, Karina Milei attended the session in Congress with the Minister of Economy, Luis “Toto” Caputo. The duo was applauded by government deputies.
What does Argentina’s labor reform do?
The project:
- Flexible hiring rules;
- Changes the vacation system;
- Allows the extension of the standard working day from eight to twelve hours;
- Authorizes payment of salaries in foreign currency;
- Introduces new limits to the right to strike, establishing minimum requirements for the continuity of services during strikes;
- Simplifies the calculation of compensation for contractual termination, reducing costs for employers by excluding bonuses that were not part of the worker’s regular salary from the calculation formula.
