The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and Peronism are intensifying their strategy to halt the labor reform promoted by the Government, but in the Senate, the outlook remains adverse: they cannot gather the necessary votes to block the law. Beyond the tensions raised by the fiscal chapter— which could fall through without an agreement—most allied and federal caucuses anticipate that they will support the bill in general. Given this scenario, Peronism has already stated that if the initiative is approved, they will resort to the courts to try to stop it.
The main opposition coalition in the upper house is the “Popular” interblock, which brings together the Justicialist block led by José Mayans, the two senators from the Civic Front of Santiago del Estero, and the five legislators from Federal Conviction. In the best-case scenario, if they all acted together—something that did not happen, for example, during the vote on the Budget—they would reach 28 votes against. Far from the 37 needed to block the sanction of the law.
In this context, part of Peronism's expectation is placed on the increasingly tense relationship between the governors and the Casa Rosada. The negotiations for national funds are going through a delicate moment, and if the conflict deepens, some senators could change their position. That’s why the opposition blocks are waiting for definitions from the provincial governors after the meeting they are organizing for Wednesday at the Federal Investment Council (CFI).
However, within Peronism itself, they admit that it is unlikely that the outcome will be drastic enough to bring down the law. That’s why they have begun to warn the ruling party that if the reform is approved as it stands, it will be judicialized. The immediate precedent is the mega DNU 70, whose labor chapter was suspended and declared unconstitutional by the courts, although the Executive has an open appeal before the Supreme Court.
In that case, the courts did not object to the content of the reform, but the mechanism used: the decree did not meet the requirement of “necessity and urgency,” and the President cannot legislate by DNU in labor matters. Now, the Government has followed the institutional path and sent a law to Congress, which forces Peronism to reformulate its judicial strategy.
The new focus of the opposition offensive is on the unconstitutionality of the content. Peronism claims that the reform violates Article 14 bis of the National Constitution, by facilitating layoffs, modifying severance pay, and weakening collective agreements. Additionally, they argue that it violates the “principle of non-regressivity” of labor rights, by worsening existing conditions and transferring greater risks to the worker.
“The project dismantles historical rights won by the labor movement,” they repeat in the blocks close to the CGT. In that vein, the governor of Buenos Aires Province Axel Kicillof stated that “Milei's labor reform has nothing to do with the freedom it preaches,” and warned that without vacations or rest “that freedom is just a discourse.”
From the ruling party, the Minister of the Interior Diego Santilli responded: he accused Kirchnerism of opposing the reduction of Income Tax for companies and prioritizing revenue over job creation, in a message that also targeted governors who are demanding relief after the decline of 0.15% in GDP resources.
Meanwhile, Peronism also faces internal divisions. Former Minister of Labor Kelly Olmos presented an alternative labor reform project that proposes gradually reducing the workday, regulating platform work, and expanding parental leave. The initiative generated discontent in the Kirchnerist wing, which is promoting its own project through Deputy Vanesa Siley.
In the Senate, they are trying to tone down these differences: they claim that, for now, they are not promoting any of their own projects and that the priority is to coordinate a common strategy with the CGT in the face of a reform that, they assert, will again put the heart of the Argentine labor model into dispute.
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