Argentina’s largest trade union federation, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and two sectors of the Argentine Workers Central (CTA), have vowed to “shut down the country” in a nationwide general strike Feb. 19 to protest passage of supposedly “new” labor legislation, whose only purpose is to smash the organized labor movement and deprive workers of their constitutionally guaranteed rights. The Senate passed the reform on Feb. 11 and the lower Chamber of Deputies will vote on it on Feb. 19. The CGT, which has often opted for dialogue with the government, to no effect, will not mobilize its members to march in front of the Congress but the CTA will. There will be no train or rail transportation that day.
Posed as a bill to “modernize” labor legislation, the reform actually includes measures already imposed by previous neoliberal presidents (Mauricio Macri, 2015-2019) and Carlos Menem (1989-1999). It does away with overtime pay, institutes a 12-hour work day, limits the right to strike and collective bargaining, offering sophistical explanations to hide the bill’s actual content. It is supposed to prove that Argentina is a reliable country for foreign investment without a troublesome labor movement. The government’s claims that the new bill will create jobs, improve salaries, benefit the provinces, and improve the capitals’ market are simply false..
It would be wise to take into account the statistics recently released by the Statistical Bulletin of the Superintendent of Labor Risks, (SRT) which, [according to El Destape,]( https://www.eldestapeweb.com/economia/crisis-economica/milei-lo-hizo-ya-cerraron-mas-de-22-mil-empresas-desde-que-asumio-2026214182) showed that in the two years of the Javier Milei presidency, from November 2023 to November 2025, 22,479 companies were forced to close their doors. This is a direct result of Milei’s Wall Street and London-inspired free market, deregulation policy. The closures left 327,348 employees without jobs.
For 2026, another 31,500 small and medium sized enterprises are projected to close. El Destape notes that less than 1% of business owners think that the new labor reform will help them in any way, [according to El Destape.]( https://www.eldestapeweb.com/economia/crisis-economica/crisis-productiva-mas-de-30-000-empresas-al-borde-del-cierre-en-el-tercer-ano-de-) “Argentina’s real economy continues to show no signs of recovery. The internal market is depressed, the profitability of key sectors is in frank decline and the deregulation wave for imports affects the productive fabric and aggravates the risk of closures of thousands of small and medium enterprises,” the daily warned.
