Argentina’s Senate has postponed the debate on a sweeping labor reform bill, citing a lack of legislative support and following massive union-led protests in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo.

The Argentinian Senate has postponed the debate on a sweeping labor reform bill until February 10, 2026, due to a lack of legislative support as intense union mobilizations took place in Plaza de Mayo.

RELATED: Argentina’s Environmental Rollback Through Law and Budget

“We are going to sign a report to keep it open to amendments”, Senator Patricia Bullrich said, justifying the extension by citing the large number of observations submitted by various sectors.

Text reads: “We have heard all the actors, talked with the different blocks, we are going to sign an opinion to leave it open and we propose to move the debate to February 10 so that we can analyze all the orders that have arrived”, reports @PatoBullrich”

Senator Carlos Linares of Union for the Fatherland (Unión por la Patria, in Spanish), from the province of Chubut, welcomed the pause in the legislative process and criticized the government’s strategy.

“As they’ve been doing, they tried to fast-track all the laws, and today they had to back down because they didn’t have the necessary support”, Linares said in remarks to Radio La 750.

He described this as a recurring pattern by the ruling far-right party, which seeks to impose reforms without consensus. The decision came after thousands of workers mobilized in Plaza de Mayo to protest the so-called “Labor Modernization Law.”

Text reads: “It is a lie that workers do not want to have rights, they need them. The rare thing about this project is that they are using a communication tool to regulate an activity which is already regulated.”

The demonstration was called by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT, in Spanish), the country’s largest labor federation, and included union leaders, opposition lawmakers, and the governor of Buenos Aires Province, Axel Kicillof.

Jorge Sola, Secretary General of the CGT, described the Milei’s project of reform as “an attack on the freedom that this government claims to defend—the only asset human beings truly have, which is work.”

Kicillof, for his part, told local media that “this labor reform does not contain a single element that benefits workers.”

Senator Carlos Linares also denounced that the Executive Branch plans, in parallel, to vote on the 2026 Budget on December 26, which poses a coordinated maneuver. “This is a government that listens very little, that doesn’t understand that this is about dialogue and consensus. We say that governments need a budget, but it has to be agreed upon,” the senator said.

In addition, Linares warned that the government could veto the Budget Law in order to manage funds at its own discretion, a practice he said has already been in place for the past two years.

“They feel very comfortable reallocating funds, something that has already been going on for two years,” he emphasized. Despite the postponement, the bill will not be shelved. In the coming days, the committee will sign an “open” report, keeping the text alive and allowing corrections and suggestions to be submitted throughout January.

IN THIS ARTICLE