Argentina’s senate voted in favor of President Javier Milei’s labor reform bill on Thursday. The reform would restrict the right to strike and authorize 12-hour work days, among other changes.
In a statement, Milei thanked the senators that passed the bill saying, “Only by modernizing our labor laws will we generate genuine employment, predictability, and greater economic freedom in our country.”
Debate on the bill lasted for over 13 hours while opposition protests erupted outside congress, with security forces responding with water cannons and tear gas.
The Senate approved the bill with 42 votes in favor and 30 opposed. It will now head to the lower house of congress, the Chamber of Deputies, in the next few days, and Milei will push for final approval of the bill by March 1.
The bill would “reduce severance payments, make it easier for companies to fire workers, limit the right to strike, allow payment in kind and in foreign currency, and allow employers to demand that vacation time be taken in installments”, according to El Colombiano.
Though the bill was passed by the Senate with a majority, 28 concessions were made in order to appease lawmakers, provincial governors, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) – Argentina’s most powerful labor federation – and the banks. One article that intended to lower employers’ income taxes was removed because it would reduce provincial revenue, according to Bloomberg.
The ruling party has defended the proposed reforms, arguing that the bill serves as a program of labor modernization, with the objective of “expanding the formal economy”, as currently 40% of workers in Argentina work informally, reported Reuters.
Protests against the reforms were organized by the country’s major trade unions and attended by thousands of workers.
Mario Manrique, a member of the auto industry workers’ union, told Democracy Now! that the idea of labor modernization is a pretence, and that the government is looking to turn Argentina into a “cheap labor hub in the world”.
The CGT has called the reforms a “false modernization” and a “true regression of workers’ rights”, and has promised to continue their plan of action in “all necessary fronts: the streets, the justice system and, of course, the national congress.”
International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Luc Triangle described the reforms as an attack on democracy, which will “deepen inequality, increase informality, and worsen the country’s economic and social crisis.”
Featured image description: Argentine National Congress Building
Featured image credit: Jorge Láscar, Wikimedia Commons
