Argentina faces a general strike this Thursday in protest of the Milei Government’s labor reform project

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the largest labor confederation in the country, and the Argentine Workers’ Confederation (CTA) are the protagonists of the call for this 24-hour force measure, which begins this morning. It is about the fourth general strike since Milei assumed the Argentine Presidency, in December 2023.

The strike will affect all types of activities, including passenger transportation: airlines operating in Argentina announced the cancellation of dozens of flights.

The axis of the protest is the labor reform promoted by the Executive through a controversial bill that already received the approval of the Senate on February 12, when a pitched battle broke out between police and protesters in the vicinity of Congress in which there were more than 70 detainees – whom the Milei Government accuses of terrorism – and 12 injured

Now will be debated by the Lower Housethis Thursday, in a session that is expected to last several hours.

The CGT has called for a strike without mobilization in the streets, but the CTA, other unions and social and leftist movements have called for demonstrations in the Plaza del Congreso, in Buenos Aires.

The reform

The so-called labor modernization project radically changes the conditions of labor relations in Argentina, where there is a high level of informal employment and where thousands of formal positions have been destroyed in recent years.

The initiative reduces severance pay; allows 12-hour days per day; creates the Labor Assistance Fund (FAL), which would allow employers to make monthly contributions to cover eventual layoffs; introduces modifications to the vacation and overtime system; and restricts the right to strikeamong other points.

The unions oppose the reform “in its entirety” alleging that it is “contrary to the National Constitution and international treaties with constitutional status.” He also describes the initiative as “regressive and harmful to workers.”

For their part, businessmen are generally in favor of the project, but they warn that to generate formal work, economic growth is needed through a boost to credit and investment and a more vigorous domestic market.

One of the most criticized aspects of the bill is the reduction of salary in case of leave due to illness or accidentso the ruling party agreed to withdraw that article to gain broad support in this Thursday’s session among the allied blocs.

Due to this modification, if approved this Thursday, the initiative must return to the Senate for a new debate.

In the sea it has already begun

Workers in the maritime and river sector began a 48-hour strike this past Wednesday in the ports of Argentina, which will affect infrastructure, fishing and foreign trade.

“This measure of force aims to defend our labor rights, the stability of our jobs and the dignity of the maritime family against initiatives that seek to make our activity precarious,” the Maritime and River Union Federation (Fesimaf) states in a statement.

The strike will affect the usual operations in 17 port terminals in the country, since these unions intervene in key tasks for the operation of ships such as mooring and unmooring of ships, which has a direct impact and generates delays and delays in the loading of grains and products.

“The Merchant Marine cannot be excluded from the legal framework that protects Argentine workers. This strike is not against the country or against production, it is in defense of national work, our working conditions and safety in navigation,” adds the union.