Thousands of people demonstrated this Wednesday called by the labor unions in Argentina to ask the court to declare unconstitutional a decree of the ultraliberal president Javier Milei that promotes a profound deregulation of the economy.
to the cry “the country is not for sale” and with Argentine flags, the protesters supported the petition that the union centers submitted to justice against the decree that includes the reform of more than 300 laws and will come into force on Friday, within the framework of a strong fiscal adjustment.
“We do not question the legitimacy of President Milei, but we want him to respect the division of powers. “Workers have the need to defend their rights when there is unconstitutionality”Gerardo Martínez, general secretary of the construction union, one of those who led the demonstration in front of the Palace of Courts in Buenos Aires, told the press.
Social organizations also joined the mobilization.
““We come to say No to the decree because it takes over one of the powers of the State, the Congress.”Adrián Grana, one of the protesters for whom the presidential initiative “It is a decalogue to favor the powerful at the expense of the people.”
“Tripartite dialogue”
The decree limits the right to strike, modifies labor agreements and the dismissal compensation system, redefines the working day, opens the doors to the privatization of public companies and repeals laws to protect consumers against abusive price increases when annual inflation exceeds the 160% and poverty 40%.
“Today we go to court, but there is another chapter focused on Congress that will have to give an in-depth debate” about the content of the decree, said Gerardo Martínez.
The union leader urged the government to “form a collective tripartite dialogue table with employers and unions, as other countries that have gone through a severe adjustment have had.”
Congress, where the ruling party is the third minority, can invalidate the decree, but it is a procedure that would take several months.
The initiative repeals the law on retirement mobility and the law that regulates rents, frees the price of bank commissions and punitive rates for debts and allows sports clubs to become public limited companies.
“The decree is destructive of all labor rights. “The Argentine people elected Milei as president of the Nation, not as emperor,” criticized Martín Lucero, a 45-year-old teacher who came from Rosario to support the march.
Last week, the justice system opened a file to analyze a collective protection against the decree.
President Milei, who took office on December 10, called Congress to extraordinary sessions that were held on Tuesday to discuss complementary laws to the decree with tax reforms and the electoral law, among others.
He also terminated by decree some 7,000 public employee contracts within the framework of the reduction of State spending, which aspires to reach the equivalent of 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
““All the measures go right through me, they are going to starve us,” said Sofía Julián, a 33-year-old employee who came to the march from the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires. “We are united and organized and we are going to continue fighting to oppose the decisions that this government makes against the Argentine people,” he added.
Source: Gestion
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