“Acquired rights are acquired”

After the union leadership assured that the reform was retroactive and would affect all workers, the executive went public to clarify this

12/13/2025 – 9:05 p.m

The tug of war between the national government and the General Confederation of Trade Unions over the scope of labor reform added a new chapter full of overlaps and clarifications. The controversy erupted after the Minister for Transformation and State Deregulation, Federico Rumpfenegger, indicated, according to the CGT, that the new legislation would not only regulate future hiring but affect all industrial relations, which was interpreted by the union as an attempt to apply the law retroactively.

Given the rapid response from unions denouncing a “sincerity killing” and a “deprivation of rights,” senior ruling party sources came forward to clarify the executive’s position. In statements to TN, a senior official source strongly pointed out that the interpretation of the rights impact was “wrong” and settled the controversy by asserting: “Acquired rights are acquired”. In this way, the government is trying to allay fears of repercussions. Ensuring that workers who already have a job continue to work within the agreement and legal framework in force at the time of their employment, while the new provisions would apply from the entry into force of the law.

The CGT accusation for Stützenegger’s statements: “A sincere murder”

The executive’s clarification comes in response to the fierce attack from the CGT, which saw in Rumpfenegger’s words its worst fears confirmed. The controversy began when the minister declared on Radio Miter that the reform “represents a change in the law and applies to every employment relationship. We are clarifying the Employment Contracts Act and the LCT applies to everyone.”

Cristian Jerónimo, one of the members of the union triumvirate that leads the CGT, took the floor to question the government. The union leader claimed that the executive had lied to her and that the minister had committed an act of “sincerity”.

Jerónimo assured: “He had just had a sincere murder and his unconscious betrayed him. We had brought it up and they said no, the reform is for the new workers.” The chairman of the CGT was blunt when he stated that the government-sponsored initiative was “regressive” and that its practical implementation “takes away virtually all types of protection for workers” by proposing an “abolition of individual and collective rights”.

In this context of high tension, the ruling party’s high-level statements to TN are intended to stop the escalation of the conflict, at least with regard to the timescale of the reform, although the CGT has already expressed its rejection of the central points of the project.