Time is running out. There are only 10 business days left until the end of the year and the call hasn’t arrived. The Buenos Aires government is preparing to close this year 2025 without presenting a new salary offer to the unions, currently guaranteeing only one thing: that the bonus that workers must receive before Christmas will be paid on time.
It’s a modest confirmation, but very telling: Axel Kicillof’s government is approaching the end of the year with its financial tongue hanging out. The unions themselves seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that joint negotiations will resume in January or February. Unless, of course, something new comes along that doesn’t appear on the radar.
The Almanac expresses an additional reality: payroll has already begun, apparently with the same salary amounts as in November.
This scenario puts the unions in an awkward position, as the visible leaders of several organizations are subordinate to Kicillof’s political plan. Several of them tried to pressure the Legislature to approve the governor’s request for debt. They also actively participate in actions in support of their presidential projection. This orientation adopted by various managers limits their scope for action and, of course, their room for complaints. It distances them from the demand with which they started the year: that salaries exceed inflation.
Due to the dynamics of prices themselves, this goal is even further away. The latest figure released by the INDEC, which corresponds to November inflation, was 2.5 percent. That was 2.3 percent in October and 2.1 in September. There are no estimates indicating a decline in the last month of this year.
The Buenos Aires government also blames a decline in resources that makes the scenario more complex. He blames the government of Javier Milei, from which he demands 12.9 billion pesos for the transfers that stopped as soon as the president disembarked at the Casa Rosada. This fight is not the only one: in 2026, Kicillof will go to the markets to raise debt to pay the maturities and the final approval must come through the Ministry of Economy led by Luis Caputo, who has already threatened to take a closer look at what the debt will be used for.
These struggles are carried out simultaneously with the political struggle that Kicillof is waging at the national level with Kirchnerism and La Cámpora. Next Friday, the PJ of Buenos Aires will set the election date to determine new authorities. Kicillofism will at least strive for the emergence of a “consensus” candidate who is not imposed by Cristina or Máximo Kirchner.
Several mayors and officials believe that this scenario seems unlikely and that we must prepare for an internal situation. In the governorate, the name of Vice Governor Verónica Magario is being heard to lead this fight. Some area leaders are considering other options: a mayor. The name Julio Alak from La Plata rings out.
Alak has just made a strong political move that goes beyond the borders of his district and is part of the dispute between Kicillof and Kirchnerism. He took a camp councilor into his care, who reported to Martín Alaniz, Maximo Kirchner’s confidant in La Plata.
They are just links in a chain of disputes that constantly add new chapters. Kirchnerism seeks the strategic vice-presidency of the Provincial Senate, a position behind Kicillof and Magario in the line of succession. Kicillofism tries to resist and proposes its own candidate, but faces a central problem: it lacks a majority in the ruling bloc.
There are those who believe that this fight appears to be driven by other motivations: the impact on the governance of the House of Lords.
Meanwhile, La Libertad Avanza is causing controversy and disruption in several districts. In La Matanza, media representative Leila Gianni broke the libertarian bloc immediately after taking office. In the Costa party, alongside the local governing party, another purple councilor voted for the PJ to retain the presidency of the council.
The cases are repeated in other communities. They reveal that the LLA once again left gaps when compiling its lists. He stumbled over the same stone as would happen in 2023.
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