The labor reform initiated by the Argentine president is being imposed from above. But resistance is forming from below. Here we share part of the text outlining the position of Argentine organized anarchism on the situation. ---- The so-called "modernization of labor" reform implemented by the Milei government is in no way a legal modernization of labor law. On the contrary, it is at the heart of a comprehensive project of exploitation and precarization of labor, comparable only to that imposed by the military dictatorship of the 1970s. It directly benefits employers by eliminating or limiting historical tools of struggle. The economic model imposed by the leaders benefits large agro-export companies and extractive multinationals that employ a tiny workforce compared to the massive layoffs in the declining manufacturing industries across the country (21,339 companies have closed since Milei came to power). Big capital is redirecting its investments toward the agricultural and energy sectors, financial speculation, or is simply leaving the country, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers destitute.
Normative Chaos
This reform enjoys broad consensus among a large part of the political class, the governors, and, of course, the National Congress, which has become a mere rubber stamp for the president. It is blatant that Milei's government is employing the same tactic as Macri a decade ago[1], advancing its anti-popular policies simultaneously on different frontslabor, the environment, criminal justice, and social issuesin order to prevent a firm response from grassroots organizations by exploiting the lack of overall coordination of the resistance.
Elected president in 2023, Javier Milei has been able to count on a majority in the Argentine parliament since October 2025.
Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore
This law thus only proposes normative chaos in employer-employee relations, where the power of entrepreneurs will prevail even more, eliminating guarantees for employees and promoting job insecurity as the norm for all workers.
Compliant union apparatuses
As always, the effects of these policies fall on the shoulders of the oppressed class. Wages stagnate or fall, and job insecurity is widespread: 38.2% of employees are in the informal sector, without access to fundamental rights and holding multiple jobs. It is estimated that, since Milei came to power, the transfer of income from the working class to concentrated capital amounts to approximately 48.8 billion pesos[2].
While the general strike of February 19th was a success, the paralysis of the struggles imposed by the compliant main union leaderships is more than evident. These leaderships are attempting to contain the conflicts in exchange for maintaining their control over union funds.
The results show that the large-scale actions carried out in recent weeks have not been enough to stop the advance of the labor law. This highlights the still decisive influence of union leaderships beholden to employers and the government[3], which act as veritable barriers to contain the conflict.
However, a combative force has emerged around the Frente Sindical Unido (United Union Front - FreSU), a union bloc that transcends the national union federations and maintains a healthy class independence from political parties and governments. But this growing space has not yet matured enough to surpass the momentum of other unions, which has been limited to sporadic strikes and timid mobilizations.
Adding to this difficulty is the fact that we are once again witnessing how a segment of the partisan left prioritizes the central role of its political apparatus according to a logic of enlightened vanguardism.
Going Beyond Legality
Faced with this situation, the task is clear and urgent: we cannot delegate our defense to mere legality, as some union leaderships are attempting to do. Legal recourse must be accompanied by direct action. The lessons of history show that state justice alone does not rule in favor of the oppressed, except in cases of social conflict.
In this bleak context, and as during the 2001 economic crisis, with its surge in mass layoffs and company closures, workplace occupations appear as a legitimate form of resistance. The occupations carried out by metalworkers in Tierra del Fuego[4], or by tire workers at the FATE company, as well as the courthouse occupations by clerks in Buenos Aires, express a tension with the boundaries of legalism; they attempt to impose a limit on the advance of employers, politicize conflicts, and demonstrate that direct action and grassroots organized force constitute the essential response of workers. Of course, these actions do not resolve the fundamental issue. However, they do allow the workers concerned to come together in collective resistance.
In this context, and for the resistance to continue to gain momentum, it is necessary to strengthen union coordination. In an era marked by union personalization and egos, the primary task of anarchist activists is to build bridges between unions, to bring together disparate sectors, and to broaden coordination, both from the top down and, above all, from the grassroots.
In addition to national mobilizations against labor reform and its implications, we must continue to promote the struggle for wages, working conditions, and stability in every sector and province.
However, at this time, we cannot neglect the specific struggles of each sector, as this is what allows us to build strength, engage our comrades, and challenge them on the need to grow as an organized social force in this context. In short, we must regain confidence in our own strength through immediate, sectoral victories. It is time to continue expanding our organized base and reaching out to every comrade, because no one will be superfluous in the times ahead.
Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (OAC), Organización Anarquista de Tucumán (OAT), Organización Resistencia Anarquista (ORA), Buenos Aires, Organización Anarquista de Santa Cruz (OASC), La Tordo Negro - organización anarquista entreriana, Organización Impulso Anarquista (Neuquén-Río Negro), Federación Anarquista from Rosario (FAR)
To validate
[1]Right-wing president of Argentina from 2015 to 2019.
[2]More than 29 billion euros.
[3]In particular the "Health-Commerce-Food" core and that of UOCRA-UPCN-Obras Sanitarias.
[4]Archipelago located in the extreme south of Argentina.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Argentine-Milei-tronconne-toujours-plus-le-travail
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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