The government was dealing with one of the fronts of open conflict against the Founding by ratifying the abolition of the mandatory employer contributionsa labor reform measure that hits the financial limits of the employers’ union. The Minister for Deregulation and Transformation of the State, Federico Falleneggerbroke every negotiating authority.
“The Chamber of Commerce wants to continue collecting its private tolls”he started, pointing to one of the economic chambers that has given the strongest support to management Javier Milei in front of a group of journalists including PROFILE. According to the reply, there will be no changes on this point, as the Executive had already indicated, considering that it would reduce “costs” and that the clauses for contributions to unaffiliated companies had no regulatory basis.
“Low altruism” and the risk of closure
On the company side, they argued that one of the main goals of the current posts is this “Train workers in the job”. “Thanks to these resources, a great deal of free training is being carried out – and it is particularly necessary in the context of accelerated changes such as the one the world is currently experiencing – as well as numerous training activities of subsidized value that will be made available to the community thanks to this funding,” warned an employer source sternly. confidential.
The definition of corporate funds ordered by Federico Rumpfenegger hit the power of the red circle
According to the current regulation “When the contribution is voluntary, altruism is rare and very few are willing to pay for what they can get for free.”. The direct consequences for the business union are that “quite a few companies, especially the smaller ones, would see it seriously endangers its continuity; while the survivors would suffer a significant loss of capacity.”
From legal setback to legislative means
Unlike other activities where contributions are already voluntary, in the commercial sector these contributions are formalized through the Argentine Institute of Vocational and Technological Training for Commerce (INACAP). This regulation was approved in 2008 by a decision of the Ministry of Labor. That is, it is the current legal framework itself that today forces companies to pay taxes to their representatives.
The government had already tried to abolish this mechanism in March Decree 149/2025a regulation that was short-lived: it was quickly pursued by INACAP and is today suspended by one Precautionary measure. Given the legal setback, the official strategy shifted towards the legislative route.
He Article 128 The reform project amends the Collective Bargaining Act No. 14,250 so that contributions to chambers or employers’ associations are levied without gray regulations “They will be completely voluntary on the part of the employer, without being obligatory through traditional clauses.”. The wording makes it clear that the freedom from obligation also applies to current contributions.
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Affected Agreements
Just like he said PROFILEthey exist in between 20 and 24 collective agreements which contain a mandatory employer contribution. Some of them share income with union funds, even if the contribution comes exclusively from employers. In addition to trade and Argentine Chamber of Medium Enterprises (CAME)There are the rubber, pharmaceutical, catering, metallurgy, gas stations, truck transport, plastics, textiles and lumber sectors.
At stake are billions of monthly pesos that now support the operating structure of companies. In La Rosada they calculate a universe of 1.2 million industrial workersthereby increasing the volume of the “box” to be cut. The Chambers of Commerce swear that the effective collection of the compulsory contribution will reach a much smaller extent, which is estimated at 700,000 employeesdue to the high rate of informality in this sector.
For Stützenegger and the team Javier MileiHowever, this argument hides a market inefficiency: if the service provided by cameras is valuable, companies should be willing to voluntarily pay for it.
Emerging conflict
The conflict is not new, but the tension has escalated. The first public round took place during the Council of the Americas in August this year, when a heated conflict broke out between the former president of the Central Bank and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. Mario Grinman.
At the invitation of the CAC itself, Rumpfenegger demanded in front of the entire audience that the entity’s priest lower the precaution against the decree. “We are in a democracy”Grinman responded dryly, contradicting the official claim. The discussion is far from over and now promises a final battle in Congress.
AM/ff
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