Argentina’s workers stage second nationwide strike against Milei’s sweeping reforms

BUENOS AIRES (CN) — Flights were canceled, bus stops were deserted and major avenues were unusually quiet this Thursday as Argentina’s workers staged a nationwide strike against President Javier Milei, in a fierce challenge to the right-wing libertarian’s economic “shock therapy.”

Bus drivers, subway workers and train conductors across the country participated in Thursday’s strike, shutting down major public transportation services and preventing people from making it to their jobs. Teachers and students stayed home from schools, trash collectors took the day off and Ezeiza International Airport was eerily quiet as hundreds of flights were canceled. 

The country’s most powerful unions called for the 24-hour strike to protest Milei’s sweeping social, economic and political reforms now pending in Congress. Known as the omnibus bill, the package includes legislation that would privatize public companies, grant Milei expanded power to legislate and roll back protections for workers.

“We are living through a grave moment as a country and as a society,” announced Argentina’s largest union, the General Confederation of Labor ahead of Thursday’s strike. “A national government that, in the name of so-called ‘market freedom,’ is implementing a brutal economic adjustment that is especially felt by lower-income sectors, salaried middle classes, retirees and pensioners.”

It’s not the first time that workers brought daily life in Argentina to a halt in protest of the new government. Unions called for the first nationwide strike against Milei on January 24 — just 45 days after he was sworn in. That strike was accompanied by a protest in downtown Buenos Aires attended by tens of thousands, where the rallying cry “the country is not for sale” rang out from the crowd.

The omnibus bill was also a point of protest for workers during January’s strike. First introduced in December, the bill initially contained 664 articles across 351 pages that took aim at state companies, government spending, worker’s rights, environmental protections and freedom of protest. The bill was modified significantly during a long, heated debate in Congress, but eventually failed due to a lack of cross-party support. Milei’s nascent political party, La Libertad Avanza, holds a significant minority in both chambers of Congress.

A heavily revised version of the bill — which was shortened to 232 articles across 183 pages — was reintroduced to legislators last month. In a political victory for Milei, the lower chamber of Congress approved the bill last week. Now, the legislation’s fate lies in the hands of the Senate, who need to approve the bill for it to become law. 

Arguments are underway, but it remains unclear how the senate will vote, according to Ernesto Calvo, a politics and government professor at the University of Maryland. “At this moment, the numbers aren’t there. But there are numbers that are negotiable.”

The strike might make politicians less willing to approve the bill, says Juan Negri, a political science professor at Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, especially when considered alongside other recent protests against Milei, including a massive march that took place last month to defend public education against aggressive budget cuts.

“With these actions, the price of the opposition’s support rises,” Negri said. “If Milei begins to lose support, he’ll have to work twice as hard to persuade legislators.”

Although Milei has forged alliances with numerous political parties, La Libertad Avanza only holds 10% of seats in Argentina’s Senate. Last month, the Senate declared Milei’s emergency presidential decree unconstitutional, prompting some pundits to predict that the omnibus bill will meet a similar fate.

Milei used the controversial emergency decree to implement a number of reforms without Congressional oversight at the start of his term, and it will remain in place until the lower house rejects it.

The revised version of the omnibus bill is more modest than the original, but it still proposes drastic changes to Argentina’s economy, society and government.

Among them, the bill would privatize numerous state companies, including the country’s largest airline, Aerolíneas Argentina, oil and gas company Energía Argentina and media company Radio y Televisión Argentina. It would relax labor market regulations, shorten maternity leave and lower the income tax threshold, all sticking points for labor advocates. It also would declare a state of emergency, granting Milei extended legislative powers over administrative, economic and energy-related issues. 

Politically, the bill’s approval would also serve to “demonstrate that the government has legs to stand on, and that they can keep up what they’ve already been doing,” says University of Maryland's Calvo.

Speaking at his usual press conference Thursday, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni called Thursday's protest against the legislation a “purely political strike which damages and complicates people's lives.”

Union leader Héctor Daer responded to Adorni's comment directly in a press conference the General Confederation of Labor held during the strike, saying that it being political was the point, because “we are discussing the direction of our country and the policies that are being carried out.”

As the day went on, Milei took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his disdain for unions and the strike, retweeting messages like “nobody paid attention to the strike.”

Another union leader, Pablo Moyano, had a different takeaway. Speaking at the press conference alongside Daer, Moyano said that “the strike hurt” Milei’s government. And if politicians keep rolling back protections for Argentina’s working class, the union leader added, they can expect more.

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