After a tough defeat in the Chamber of Deputies and while a protest was underway in the country’s major trade union centers, the government of Javier Milei reversed course and decided to postpone until 2026 the labor reform that it had intended to approve before the end of the year until yesterday. The triumphant momentum that has propelled the far right since its victory in last October’s midterm elections has come to a screeching halt in public universities and in the health care system for people with disabilities.
The new attempt by the Executive to adjust these sectors once again encountered parliamentary rejection, ratified several times during the year. In the early hours of this Thursday, deputies approved the national budget presented by Milei, but rejected his intention to repeal two laws passed a few months ago to replace part of the university and disability funds devastated by the presidential chainsaw. The government hoped to have the support of a renewed Chamber where, after the last elections, it constitutes the first minority. But the rejection was majority, even accompanied by some of its allies.
A few hours later, the unions of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) demonstrated in the Plaza de Mayo to express their disagreement with the reform of the labor regime promoted by Milei. The initiative proposes, among other things, to reduce severance pay and employer contributions, to make salary negotiations more flexible, to repeal existing agreements and to limit the right to strike.
“Those who stop fighting are defeated. » “I would rather die for a just cause than live on my knees and die of hunger. » “We don’t want forced labor or pension reforms. » This was indicated by certain signs, most of them handwritten, that the demonstrators carried. “No to labor reform” was the most repeated caption.
Under an oppressive sun that was bringing summer to Buenos Aires, the columns of workers dispersed from midday in the center of Buenos Aires. The groups arrived with flags and clothing identifying their unions: there were oil workers, civil servants, teachers, commercial workers, truckers and transporters, among others. Bass drums, snare drums and trumpets punctuate the calls; The smoke from the flares made colorful trails.
In addition to the CGT, the two branches of the Central Workers of Argentina (CTA) also called for protest, with their own columns and a common flag: “No to the Milei reform”. Social organizations and left-wing parties also participated in the mobilization, which took place in other cities across the country.
The stage installed in the middle of the Plaza de Mayo, backing onto the Casa Rosada, bore the slogan: “For the defense of work and dignity”. It was under his protection that the central act of the mobilization took place. First, a document was read in which labor reform was defined as “regressive and precarious.” “As part of the discourse of modernization and competitiveness,” declared the CGT, “the objective is to advance individual and collective rights, to weaken (…) trade union organizations and to impose a model of labor relations which aggravates precariousness, informality and inequalities”.
Then the main leaders of the CGT spoke. “Labor reform is maliciously written in favor of big business in Argentina,” said Cristian Jerónimo, one of the center’s leaders. “276,000 jobs have already been lost and 20,000 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) have closed their doors. What successful model are they talking about?” he asked.
The closure was entrusted to Jorge Sola, another union leader. “This is the first step in a plan of struggle. Continue not to listen to us and we will end up with a national strike,” he warned the government. And he concluded with a response to the slogan libertarian which Milei often repeats: “There is no freedom without social justice, no matter who it is. »
While thousands of workers demonstrated in the streets, in Congress, in a Senate committee, labor reform was debated. The government had announced its intention to grant it a half-sanction before the end of the year, but it backed down on Thursday and announced that it would postpone the discussion until at least February, when the extraordinary sessions will resume. The previous night’s defeat in the deputies, as well as the agreement between the ruling party La Libertad Avanza and the Kirchnerist bench for the appointment of auditors, called into question the solidity of the coalition built by the far right. Its foundations were broken, based on agreements with the conservative PRO party – led by former president Mauricio Macri – and with provincial forces from different sides, seduced by sending national funds.
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