Argentines to Go on General Strike Against Milei's Reforms

On Thursday, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Argentina's largest labor union, called for a general strike and a march to the Congress on January 24th to protest against the decree of urgent necessity and a bill that grants "superpowers" to the far-right president Javier Milei to govern discretionally for two years.

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The general strike will take place one day before the date on which the Milei administration intends to have Parliament vote in favor of his neoliberal reform package, which seeks to deregulate and liberalize the Argentine economy and downsize the State.

As political processes are currently happening in Argentina, however, parliamentary approval could become just a formality, since Milei's anti-worker reforms began to come into force de facto from December 29.

On Wednesday, Milei also sent another bill to Parliament to declare Argentina in "public emergency" until the end of 2025, a measure that could be extendable until 2027.

If this bill is approved, the far-right President could govern his four-year term by attributing himself broad legislative powers in matters related to the economy, finance, taxes, social security, defense, goods and services tariffs, energy, and public administration.

The text reads, "The Argentine police repress demonstrations against Milei in Cordoba. The population bravely faces police violence. Freedom is won by fighting. A general strike is being prepared throughout the country. Let's fight!. Milei is dictatorship, Milei is hunger, Milei is a scam."

"If a president is allowed to assume all public power for a period of two years renewable for two years, we will live in a country where the president will have all the power, and institutions will not be respected," CGT Secretary Hector Daer said, warning that Milei's intentions are against collective and individual rights.

Among other things, Milei's new bill includes electoral regulation reform, changes in the Penal Code to control street protests, a deep labor flexibility, the privatization of 41 large state-owned companies, and authorizations to incur more public debt.

"The mobilization is a clear fight against the reinstatement of the conservative neoliberal model in its cruelest version," said Luis D'Elia, the leader of the Federation of Land, Housing, and Habitat, one of the organizations that blocked roads on the outskirts of Buenos Aires as a protest measure on Thursday.

After assuming the presidency on December 10th, Milei, a far-right politician who claimed that his dead dogs communicate with him and advise him on state matters, launched a "shock" plan to supposedly balance the Argentine macroeconomy.