President Javier Milei’s government has sent two broad packages to the National Congress since taking office on December 10th. The so-called Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU, decree) had included the labor reform, which has been suspended by the courts following the action initiated by the country’s main unions – CGT and CTA.
This Wednesday, this DNU will be one of the reasons for the general strike called by these unions. The 12-hour strike will see protesters gather in front of the National Congress. It will be the first general strike carried out under the current government and the most recent under a new federal administration, in democratic times. In the government of former president Fernando de la Rúa (1999-2001), who until then led this feat, the first strike was carried out when he was 75 days in Casa Rosada.
Trade unionists, supporters of the opposition Peronism, argue that unemployment will increase as a result of the labor reform and planned privatizations. In the government, it is stated that membership will be weak because unions have a high rate of rejection in the country and that no strikes were carried out during the administration of former president Alberto Fernández (2019-2023).
With inflation last December, which reached 25.5%, Argentina ended the year 2023 with an increase of 211.4% – the highest in the world, surpassing that of Lebanon (192%) and Venezuela (190% ), according to a survey by the Bloomberg news agency.
In this context of high inflation and concern about layoffs, the Milei government withdrew 140 articles from the so-called Bus Law – which has this name due to the large number of articles. With the retreat, the Law now has, until this Tuesday, around 523 articles. The government gave up, for example, on privatizing the oil company YPF, but maintains taxes on exports from several agricultural sectors (wheat, soybeans and corn) and even on sectors that were exempt from the tariff (lemons and wines, for example). The governors demand these taxes, saying that the provinces lose out, since the federal government will be the one who accumulates this revenue and will also “harm”, they say, sectors that have already been punished by inflation and the worst drought in the country’s history – which lasted about three years, and officially ended at the end of last year.
Without a majority in the National Congress, the government expects the Chamber of Deputies to conclude debates on the Bus Law in committees this week, so that the text can be voted on in the house’s plenary and sent to the Senate. Milei and his spokesperson, fellow economist Manoel Ardoni, stated that if the package is not approved, the adjustment to be implemented will be “even greater”.