CGT labour federation leads first rally in Argentina against Milei’s labour reform bill

Argentina’s largest labour federation on Thursday staged a major protest against President Javier Milei’s attempts to reform the laws governing work and employment.

The Confederación General del Trabajo (General Confederation of Labour, CGT) drew thousands of demonstrators to central Buenos Aires and the iconic Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada, in rejection of the reform push.

Milei’s labour reform bill, which the Senate began debating on Wednesday, places restrictions on the right to strike, reduces redundancy payouts and allows a 12-hour working day under select conditions. 

These measures, along with other changes outlined in the bill, are deemed unacceptable by the CGT’s leadership.

Although the bill states that changes would be made by mutual agreement, the unions believe that the balance of power would shift to the detriment of workers.

“The reform is trying to make one worker fight against the colleague next to him,” said Julio Barroso, a 51-year-old chemical worker and union delegate, as he demonstrated at the Plaza de Mayo. a.

The bill seeks “to weaken workers’ collective strength to defend themselves, encourage a ‘everyone for themselves’ mentality and level everything downwards,” he added.

The government maintains that Argentina’s current labour legislation “stifles” hiring and argues that the changes would energise the labour market. Nearly 40 percent of workers in Argentina are employed informally and the economy showing signs of recession.

Milei’s team considers the current laws to be obsolete and the main obstacle to the creation of formal jobs. The government’s proposals would also make employment contracts more flexible and reduce employers’ contributions.

Labour Secretary Julio Cordero told a Senate committee on Wednesday that the current law “paralyses hiring” because “there is fear of entering a world that proves to be conflict-ridden.”

Pablo Ríos, a 44-year-old hospital worker who attended the protest, rejected the changes. “This law, which is designed for businesspeople or company owners, is not going to work,” he said.

Alongside the demonstration called by the CGT, industrial action was also taken by unions that went on strike, such as air traffic controllers, with rotating stoppages.

The CGT claimed on social media that police checkpoints were preventing convoys of coaches carrying demonstrators from entering the city, in an effort to reduce participation in the protest.

– TIMES/AFP