The national executive presented the draft in the Senate last Thursday “Work Modernization Act“After calling Extraordinary meetings, between December 10th and 30thJavier Milei’s government is seeking three laws that will mark the second phase of his term in office. With a new Congress and the test of his strategy and bargaining power, the libertarian not only wants to push through the long-awaited labor reform, with which he promises to reactivate employment and the economy, but also approve two projects of last September and June: National Budget and Fiscal Innocence.
But the most important thing for libertarian power is labor reform. The project assures in its justification that it is intentional “Updating the current labor law framework to eliminate distortions affecting formal job creation, improve competitiveness and strengthen legal certainty for workers and employers” and will begin its legislative journey next Tuesday the 16th.
On this day, the meeting of the bloc presidents will take place and the formal consideration of the legislative package for the extraordinary sessions will begin, which will end on December 30. For their part, the budget and fiscal innocence are being discussed in the same period, but in the Chamber of Deputies, where the Libertarians hold about 85 seats, which, while not giving them the majority to set their agenda, allow them to bring bargaining power into play in a fragmented Congress.
The illusion with the Senate
Despite the complaint of senators such as Carolina Moisés, who warned that the project should be dealt with first in the Chamber of Deputies since it contains tax chapters such as the reform of the VAT and the profit regime, the government submitted the project prepared by the May Council to the Upper House. The President is enthusiastic about the semi-sanction and the explicit approval before the end of the year.
Currently, La Libertad Avanza has 33 guaranteed votes: the 20 of these are added to the 10 of Radicalism and the three of PRO. If it repeats four of the endorsements it received in its first two years in office, Milei’s government would be guaranteed half a sanction.
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However, heated disagreements are to be expected at the venue, even if there is little time for debate. The opposition is raising its voice for the project to enter the upper house. “The Constitution is not a formal procedure or a political obstacle: it is the rules of the game that guarantee the institutional balance of the Republic, and Article 52 clearly states that tax laws must emanate from the Chamber of Deputies. Any attempt by the executive to circumvent this procedure denaturalizes the bicameral system, violates exclusive powers and the procedure can be judicially annulled,” said Moisés, Senator for Jujuy.
From the Casa Rosada they assure that they have the constitutional and legal support to enter first through the Senate. In their defense, they reiterate that the focus of the reform is not on taxes. The Executive explains that the decision is based on Article 77 of the National Constitution, which establishes that “laws may be passed in any House of Congress by projects submitted by its members or by the Executive,” except for the exceptions provided for in the Magna Carta itself. At this point they clarify that Article 52 stipulates that the exclusive initiative of MPs governs the laws on “contributions”.
The stagnation of employment
In a country where private employment has stagnated for 12 years and is accompanied by the increase in informal and monotributive work, the official initiative promises to modernize industrial relations through 197 articles introducing important changes in labor contract law, the trade union system, collective bargaining, the remuneration system, the formalization of employment and the regulation of new forms of work.
In recent weeks, when it became known that the President would approve the labor reform, the debate about the possible changes that the final project would include covered both political programs and social networks. But it was only on Thursday that the 122 pages of the project that Milei presented to the Senate could finally be read. The main aspects include lower compensation with update limits, prorated vacation and the creation of a timetable.
In this sense, The project promises to promote formal employment and work laundryby creating an incentive system for those who hire employees. The measure is valid for one year and provides that companies that hire unemployed, monotributists or former public servants and increase the wage bill of employees will receive discounts on the payment of employer contributions for the first four years.
Labor reform: They warn against full payment of wages in kind
On the other hand, A money laundering regime will be introduced for employers who employ unregistered workers which provides for the suspension of criminal prosecution for tax evasion for a period of six months; the waiver of fines and a percentage of the contribution debt as well as the repayment of the debt in up to 72 installments.
In terms of negotiating payment, under the concept of “dynamic negotiation”encourage both the union and the employee to agree with the company on additional income as compensation, depending on productivity levels or certain goals. It should be clarified and taken into account that this type of “Extras” They are not considered remunerative, that is, they are not part of the employee’s “bare salary” and therefore They are neither taken into account when calculating the payment of the half bonus nor as part of a salary on which retirement savings are calculated.the time has come.
With controversial modifications depending on one’s position on the production scale, the debate will attract attention in the last 15 days of 2025. It will be two weeks that will overshadow the festive Christmas period and the end of the year. For its part, the national CGT called for a general strike for Thursday 18, although the provincial unions in Córdoba are still debating it, while continuing to pay close attention to what will happen in the provincial unicameral, but due to the possible increase in pension contributions. Both the national government and workers and employers will wait for the Upper House’s decision.
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