CGT prepares court challenge to Milei-backed overhaul approved by Senate.

Argentina’s main labor federation will begin filing court challenges this week against a labor reform approved by Congress, arguing that the new framework violates constitutional protections and restricts union rights.

RELATED: Argentina Approves Labor Reform After Divisive Senate Vote

Unions grouped under the General Confederation of Labor will submit legal motions starting Monday to invalidate the reform promoted by President Javier Milei and passed by the Senate on Friday, according to sources from the federation’s legal team.

The legal strategy will present multiple arguments, including that the legislation contravenes the constitutional principle of progressivity, also known as non-regression, and restricts fundamental principles of union organization and protest.

Text Reads: The General Confederation of Labor of Argentina (CGT) plans to challenge, starting Monday, through legal filings, the labor reform proposed by President Javier Milei and approved on Friday in the National Congress.

The Senate approved the bill with 42 votes in favor, 28 against and two abstentions. Milei’s government welcomed the outcome, stating that the reform would encourage the formal registration of workers and expand job opportunities.

The legislation modifies a labor framework dating back to 1976. It reduces the calculation base for severance pay, introduces alternatives to overtime compensation, lowers indemnities under a new formula, allows severance payments to be made in installments, and permits the fragmentation of vacation periods.

Text Reads: THE LABOR REFORM IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. We will gather on Monday, March 2nd, in front of the Palace of Justice to denounce this latest attack by the national government against workers. Monday, March 2nd / 11:00 AM / Plaza Lavalle (Palace of Justice)

It also limits the right to strike and union activity. The reform expands the list of sectors classified as essential, requiring that at least 75 percent of services be maintained during protests. It defines workplace blockades or occupations as “very serious” infractions and eliminates the principle that collective bargaining agreements remain in force after expiration until a new agreement is signed.

Several sectors of Argentina’s labor movement argue that the approved text violates the constitutional principle of non-regression, which prevents previously recognized labor rights from being reduced through new legislation.

In a column published Wednesday in the local outlet La Nación, constitutional scholar Andrés Gil Domínguez wrote: “defending non-regression in labor matters is not an ideological stance: it is fulfilling, with constitutional rigor and democratic commitment, that work continues to be a right and does not become a mere adjustment variable.”

Text Reads: Argentine workers are mobilizing militant unions towards the National Congress in protest against President Javier Milei’s labor reform.

Carla Gaudensi, secretary general of the Argentine Federation of Press Workers and Gender Secretary of the CGT, told EFE that the reform is unconstitutional and an “aberration.”

“We will continue in the streets protesting and also filing legal actions to insist on the unconstitutionality of all these aspects, which repeal a number of protective labor laws and also guaranteed rights for all of us,” Gaudensi said, referring to the repeal of Law 12.908, which protected journalistic work.

She described it as “symbolic” that Milei’s administration proposed repealing the Journalist Statute, adding that it “provides special protection in cases of dismissal for journalists, because as we know we are much more exposed to different pressures due to what we do.”

The Argentine Federation of Press Workers will join the CGT’s judicial challenge while also seeking parliamentary support to establish a new legal framework for journalists in Argentina. The court battle is expected to unfold alongside ongoing public mobilizations, as unions contest changes they say roll back established labor protections.

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