JUAN MABROMATA / AFP
On Wednesday, January 3, Argentina's judicial system rejected, at least temporarily, the labor law reforms contained in Javier Milei's deregulatory “mega-decree.”
INTERNATIONAL – Almost two months after his election, he is already suffering his first setback. On Wednesday, January 3, the Argentine judiciary rejected, at least temporarily, the labor law reforms contained in the deregulatory “mega-decree” of ultra-liberal President Javier Milei.
The National Chamber of Labor, a labor rights organization contacted by the CGT, the country's largest trade union federation, took “a precautionary measure to suspend the applicability” of the provisions of the “Labor” chapter of the Decree of December 20, pending a substantive legislative response Examination.
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.
Immediate government call
The ruling, a first if temporary setback for Javier Milei's ultra-liberal reform efforts, will be the subject of an upcoming appeal. The government “will appeal,” confirmed AFP Rodolfo Barra, the “attorney general” in charge of legality control, advice and defense of the state.
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 the work and control of prices and rents, the privatization of public companies, regulations on exports and imports.
This “DNU” has technically come into force, but requires subsequent approval by parliament, in which Milei's party is only the third force.
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 .”
Anger in the streets, general strike on January 24th
However, the judges note that “it does not appear that so-called emergencies involve the avoidance of proper interference by the legislative power in the content of the legislation”, especially since certain norms “have a repressive character or sanctions”. 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 12 years.
This decree also sparked enormous anger among Argentinians, who demonstrated in thousands in Buenos Aires on December 27, at the call of the unions, to denounce the constitutional nature of the “mega-decree”. as you can see in our video below.
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The legal process, along with the street and parliament, is one of the opposition's three axes of struggle that oppose Milei's liberal revolution. The CGT called for a general strike and mobilization on January 24, the first strike against a government in 40 years of democracy, a month and a half after taking power.
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