Global Intelligence Summary

On 12 February, Argentina’s Senate gave its in principle approval to a structural labour reform that had been heavily supported by President Javier Milei as being crucial to his “libertarian” policies. The reform extends allowed working days to 12 hours, decreases labour unions’ power by allowing company-level bargaining and removing the automatic payment of membership dues, narrows grounds for wrongful dismissal claims, curbs the right to strike, and expands probation periods for workers, among other policies. It de facto dismantles the long-standing “Peronist” labour system, heavily dominated by Argentina’s unions.

The Senate vote was followed by immediate large-scale protests, which were called by both labour unions and opposition left-wing parties. Protests, which already started on 11 February, turned violent in Buenos Aires, where police deployed water cannons and other crowd control measures near the Capitol. On 16 February, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) announced a 24-hour national strike for 19 February, to protest against the reform, while the Maritime and River Trade Union Federation announced a strike across all ports in Argentina for 48 hours, also starting on 19 February.  

Solace Global Assessment: 

Despite significant pressure, the labour reform package is likely to pass its final parliamentary vote, which local media reports could take place as early as 19 February. Still, the significant popular opposition to the bill has resulted in the governing coalition making some important legislative concessions, for instance, on 17 February, withdrew an article from the bill which allowed employers to reduce workers’ salaries during periods of approved medical leave.

Milei’s libertarian policy agenda remains extremely polarising in Argentina, which continues to grapple with high poverty rates and unemployment despite a decrease in the overall inflation rate. Still, the October 2025 legislative elections, which were convincingly won by Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) with around 40.6 per cent of the total vote, have almost certainly granted the president significant political momentum, setting the stage for ambitious legislative proposals such as the labour bill. Most notably, LLA’s positive results reduced the opposition’s parliamentary numbers enough to remove its ability to overturn presidential vetoes, which Milei had used to quash opposition-led legislative efforts.

Further developments in the bill’s approval process will likely result in unrest, with Buenos Aires almost certain to be the key epicentre of protests. If the lower house of parliament votes on the bill on 19 February, unrest is highly likely to occur between 19 and 21 February. As in other recent large-scale, labour-related periods of unrest in Argentina, future protests are likely to turn violent and result in the deployment of tear gas, water cannons and other crowd dispersal measures.