Christmas gift. Adorni announced the mega package of reforms against workers

The Government of Javier Milei has just named its adjustment roadmap: the May Council, presented this week by Manuel Adorni and celebrated as the great political agreement for “put Argentina on the path of growth.” Behind that slogan, the projects that the Executive will send to Congress They anticipate a package of anti-popular reforms which only excites big businessmen and the IMF.

Ten points, eight projects and the employer’s brand

He May Council arises from the May Pact (signed in July 2023 by 18 governors) and addresses eight of the ten agreed points: inviolability of private property, fiscal balance, reduction of public spending, “useful and modern” education, tax reform, exploitation of natural resources, labor “modernization” and opening to international trade. The rediscussion of co-participation and pension reform was left out, because not even among the adjusters they agree on that area.

The Council, made up of CGT, Argentine Industrial Union (UIA), deputies, senators, the Executive and governors, It is advisory and non-binding, but it marks the reform agenda that Milei wants to turn into law by 2026. The legislative calendar, according to Adorni, is organized around this package, which advances along the lines of what we have already been denouncing: a leap in the bosses’ offensive and national delivery.

Labor reform: precariousness, easier dismissals and a blow to the right to strike

The labor reform is the heart of this plan: Under the euphemism of “modernization”, the Executive wants to legalize what employers have in fact been doing for years and advance even further: a direct blow to the historical achievements of the working class in Argentina. The project, leaked to the press and now confirmed by Adorni, aims to:

• Eliminate ultra-activity from collective agreements (that is, they go back to square one if there is no new agreement, leaving the worker more exposed).
• Give priority to regional or company agreements on national ones, fostering fragmentation and weakening collective strength.
• Create Work Assistance Funds (FAL) financed by employer contributions, to cover compensation and reduce costs for the business community.
• Facilitate layoffs and reduce protection against discriminatory dismissal.
• Make the vacation regime more flexible (hour bank, fractionation, etc.) and allow new forms of precariousness (self-employed, platforms, agricultural work without rights).
• Repeal the Teleworking Law and other labor protection regulations.
• Tax incentives for job laundering and reduction of social charges.

All aimed at lowering the “labor cost” at the expense of the rights achieved. They say they want “more white jobs,” but They are making progress in legalizing the precariousness that plagues almost half of the workforce. An old business desire, now with the endorsement of Milei, the UIA and the allied blocs.

The rest of the package: fiscal adjustment, educational reform and liquidation of resources

The menu that Adorni presents does not end with work. The Executive wants to move forward with:

• Law for prohibit fiscal deficitwith automatic adjustment. A custom-made suit from the IMF.
• Freezing of public spending and punishments for provinces that do not comply with adjustment goals.
• Tax reform with lower taxes for employerselimination of taxes on financial income and flight, and million-dollar exemptions for industrial energy.
• Total opening to international tradesigning treaties that only benefit the big players and defer the local industry.
• Changes in the Expropriation Law: compensation at market value, express evictions and free rein for the sale of rural land to foreigners.
• Educational reform: more autonomy for the provinces and schools, but with minimum contents defined by the State and the open door to privatization and the educational business under the guise of “modernity”.
• Advance on natural resources: modification of the Glacier Law, update of the Forest Law, elimination of limits on local labor and provincial purchase laws so that extractivism advances without obstacles.

The way out is with organization from below, a plan of struggle and unity: The CGT does not know, it does not answer

As we have been pointing out, the entire negotiation around the reform promoted by the business community took place behind the backs of those who work. The CGT participated in each meeting without appealing to the slightest consultation to its members, bets on the political thread despite the fact that La Libertad Avanza is already close to its own majority –thanks to the defection of Fuerza Patria deputies– and several PJ governors were willing to support their initiatives.

Although several of its representatives, such as Gerardo Martínez (UOCRA), objected to points of the labor reform and presented letters of protest, The central office does not call for serious forceful measures nor organize assemblies in the workplace. The May Council has them as “representatives” of the labor movement, but His strategy is the same as always: participate in negotiation tables, make statements for the tribune and, In fact, let pass the most serious attacks that working people have suffered in decades.

From the left and combative unionism, there is no room for resignation or truce. We have been saying it since day one: to the labor reform by Milei It seeks to legalize precariousness and attack the collective strength of the working class. Its objective is to further fragment the labor movement, weaken agreements, enable cheap layoffs and destroy the right to strike and organize.

From the Left Front and classist groups the slogan is raised: “No to slave reform; no progress on the right to strike and organize”. We are promoting plenaries of coordination and calling on all combative sectors and those who reject the reform, to promote a plan of struggle and demand that unions and labor centers call for forceful measuresor they will be part of a historic attack against the working class.