Argentina’s top union sues to stop President Milli’s sweeping labor overhaul

Buenos Aires, Argentina — Argentina’s largest trade union group filed a lawsuit on Monday to block sweeping labor reforms promoted by President Javier Mille and aimed at radically changing labor relations in the South American country.

The reform, approved by Congress on Friday, gives employers more flexibility in matters of hiring, firing, severance and collective bargaining and seeks to limit the historic power of unions.

“This law represents a serious violation of collective and individual rights that clearly violates constitutional principles,” the General Confederation of Labor, CGT, said in a statement after its lawyers filed the complaint in a Buenos Aires court.

The complaint challenges the constitutionality of the reform, arguing that it violates both the “progressivity principle” and the “protective principle” that prevent the rollback of labor rights, a legal standard aimed at preventing employer abuses and restoring balance in the workplace.

“The damages are not collateral effects of an isolated decision, but consistent with the economic and social program of the national government,” the CGT said, warning that 300,000 jobs had been lost since Milli took office in late 2023 and with a mandate for deep economic reform.

Miley called the overhaul “historic” on Friday after its approval. “We have labor modernization,” he said.

The legislative process is fraught with tension between the ruling party and the opposition. Clashes boiled over during debate on the bill in the lower house of Congress last month, with the GCT launching a 24-hour nationwide strike, while protesters from various left-wing groups clashed with police outside Congress.

Miley considers changes to Argentina’s half-century-old labor code critical to its efforts to attract foreign investment, boost productivity and boost job creation, where two out of five workers work off the books.

Unions argue the law weakens worker protections that have defined Argentina since the rise of Peronism, the country’s strongest populist political movement, in the 1940s.

Courts must now decide whether to accept or dismiss CGT’s filing, which could lead to an injunction suspending reform until a judge makes a final ruling. ___

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