The lower house will debate President Javier Milei’s labor reform in a session scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m., following a speedy commissions approval on Wednesday. The bill was passed by the senate last week.

The session comes amid a nationwide 24-hour strike called by Argentina’s largest unions federation, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT, by its Spanish initials) to protest the bill. Unlike last week, the CGT did not call for a protest outside Congress, but several political parties and unions gathered around the legislative building with banners against the reform.

Ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) gathered the required 44 signatures for a commissions-approved draft of the bill on Wednesday, a necessary step to take the provision to the chamber’s floor. LLA had backing from deputies from ally blocs PRO, Unión Cívica Radical, and some smaller provincial parties.

Opposition sectors have questioned the speediness at which such a major reform is being addressed in Congress, as LLA wants to pass it before the extraordinary sessions end on February 28. If approved, Milei is expected to celebrate it as a key accomplishment in his March 1st speech for the start of the legislative year.

However, if approved on Thursday, it will be sent back to the upper house given deputies are demanding to introduce several changes to the text. Those modifications have to be green-lighted by the chamber that originally approved it in order to become a law.

If everything goes according to the government’s plan, a senate session is expected to be carried out on February 27, a day before the extraordinary sessions period ends.

Changes to the labor reform

A great point of contention in the labor reform bill is an article that limited sick leave pay. Currently, Argentines get paid their salaries in full when they take sick leave. The version of the bill that was approved by the senate stated that, if workers got injured or sick due to “voluntary activities” unrelated to their jobs, their salaries would be cut by 25% for non-risky activities; in the case of risky ones, the cut would climb to 50%.

LLA has agreed to remove that article from the bill after talks with the opposition to guarantee more support.

However, there are other sections of the bill that could also be modified during the session. One is the article creating a national fund that would be used for granting severance pay for fired workers. If the law is approved, employers would no longer have to pay it in full, but only part of it. The funds would come from money currently taken from employees’ salaries that are destined to cover pension contributions. Opposition parties have argued this would defund social security administration ANSES.

Right-wing party PRO, LLA’s main ally in Congress, is also demanding an article present in an initial version of the bill be reinstated, which allowed employees to opt to receive their salaries via virtual wallets instead of only bank accounts.

If that article is reintroduced and approved, it would largely benefit Mercado Pago, the most used virtual wallet in Argentina, owned by Milei ally businessman Marcos Galperín.

The first battle of the day for LLA will be to gather enough deputies to grant quorum (at least 129 of 257 lower house seats have to be occupied) for the session to start.

Hard opposition blocs, like Peronist Unión por la Patria (UxP), as well as other more moderate opposition sectors have said they will not go down to the chamber floor to help reach quorum.

“The numbers are very tight. The government may have enough numbers to start the session, but they don’t have much to spare,” a UxP source told the Herald.

Center bloc Provincias Unidas has also said they will not take their seats to grant quorum. José Núñez, a deputy from the bloc, said in an interview with Radio Dos that if the session has the numbers to start, Provincias Unidas will take their seats “with a bitter taste” on their mouths to debate the bill despite disagreeing with how the bill is being addressed. He did not clarify how they will vote.

Núñez questioned that although “Argentines have been demanding a labor reform for years,” it is “strange” that it is being debated during extraordinary sessions and “with such a hurry.”

“This bill is the most regressive thing regarding labor regulation in the last 100 years,” UxP deputy and bankers union leader Sergio Palazzo said during the commission meeting on Wednesday. “It seeks to weaken unions, takes away workers’ rights, and improves profit for companies.”

© Buenos Aires Herald