For Javier Milei it is a first setback. The new and controversial Argentine president's labor law reforms have been overturned by the courts. At least temporarily. The National Chamber of Labor, a labor rights organization to which the country's largest trade union federation refers, took on Wednesday “a precautionary measure to suspend the applicability” of the provisions of the “Labor” chapter of the Decree of December 20. pending substantive legislative review.
This suspension applies “until a final decision is made on the factual issue raised in the present proceedings,” the judges emphasize in their decision, which was published by several media outlets, including the official Telam agency. The ruling, a first if temporary setback for Javier Milei's ultra-liberal reform efforts, will be the subject of an upcoming appeal.
A decree that is supposed to turn everything upside down
President Milei, who was inaugurated on December 10, ten days later announced a “Decree of Necessity and Emergency” (DNU), which set the framework for massive deregulation of the economy and changed or abolished more than 300 standards, which particularly affected labor and control prices and rents, the privatization of public companies, regulations on exports and imports.
In presenting the decree, Javier Milei justified it with the need to “start the path to rebuilding the country, return freedom and autonomy to individuals and begin to defuse the enormous amount of regulations that have slowed, hindered and prevented economic growth .” This DNU has technically come into force, but requires subsequent approval from parliament, in which Milei's party is only the third force. And that in a still hypothetical timetable.
Unconstitutional aspects
But it is already the subject of lively debate between jurists over whether it is constitutional in nature or not, while also being the subject of around ten appeals, including the CGT's summary appeal lodged last week. From the unions' perspective, the most controversial aspects of the proposed labor law reforms concern the extension of the probationary period from three to eight months, the reduction of severance pay in the event of dismissal, the restriction of the right to strike and the possibility of dismissal in the event of a blockade or occupation of the workplace.
In their arguments, the judges point out that “there are no so-called 'emergency reasons' to prevent the proper intervention of the legislative power in the content of the legislation”, especially since certain norms “have a repressive or punitive character”. . They also emphasize that “it is not explained how the proposed reforms, if implemented immediately and outside the normal legislative process, could remedy” and quickly increase formal employment, “all the more so as he himself emphasizes in the decree, that it is employment.” has stagnated for twelve years.