Argentina moved a step closer to sweeping labour reform early on Thursday after the Senate approved President Javier Milei’s contentious bill, even as violent protests erupted outside Congress in Buenos Aires.
The upper house voted 42–30 in favour of the package, which now heads to the Chamber of Deputies.
The reforms would make it easier for companies to hire and fire workers, cut severance pay, curb the right to strike, and limit holiday entitlements.
The vote followed hours of unrest in the capital, where masked demonstrators hurled stones and bottles at police guarding the legislature.
Officers responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. At least one officer was injured and one protester was injured, while local media estimated around 20 arrests.
‘Rigid labour laws discourage formal hiring’
For Milei, who took office in December 2023, promising a radical economic overhaul, the labour shake-up is central to his campaign to deregulate Argentina’s economy and slash public spending.
He argues that rigid labour laws discourage formal hiring in a country where nearly 40 percent of workers lack official contracts.
“Today we are here to decide whether we remain trapped in a statist, corporate and patronage-based system,” ruling party Senator Joaquin Benegas Lynch told lawmakers during the debate.
Oppositions to changes
Unions and opposition parties reject that argument, warning the changes will deepen job insecurity and erode worker protections in an economy already struggling with weak consumption and declining industrial output.
“With this exploitative labour reform, they are only thinking about the wealthy,” said protester Federico Pereira, a 35-year-old sociologist. “Those who benefit are the bosses.”
Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva blamed “organised” leftist groups for the violence and vowed those responsible would be punished.
Milei has pushed for the reforms to be enacted by March, framing them as essential to restoring investor confidence. But with tensions spilling onto the streets, the bill’s final passage could inflame an already polarised nation.
