An appeals court in Argentina yesterday declared invalid the labor reform included by the Argentine president, Javier Milei, in a decree of necessity and urgency that he signed in December, a few days after starting his government, and which is rejected by the unions.
The National Chamber of Labor Appeals declared the “constitutional invalidity” of the articles referring to labor issues within the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) signed by Milei on December 20, ten days after assuming the presidency.
In the decision, to which the Efe agency had access, the court considered that those articles are contrary to what the Constitution provides regarding the scope of the Executive to issue decrees. However, the court clarified that the labor articles in the decree will have formal validity in the event that the Argentine Parliament ratifies them within the period of the current extraordinary sessions, “or their validity will cease by right in the opposite case “.
The judicial decision responds to an appeal against the reform presented by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main labor union in the country, which held a general strike on January 24 and whose leaders mostly in the opposition Peronism. Regarding the labor issue, the decree includes changes in labor judgments, the extension of trial periods in companies and the reduction of leave due to pregnancy, among other measures.
On the other hand, the Argentine Executive affirmed that it continues to work “day by day” and “does not comment” on the economic outlook report (WEO, for its acronym in English) published just yesterday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , in which the organization reduced the growth forecast for the South American country by 5.6 points.
In this way, the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, confirmed in his usual press conference that in the meeting held yesterday by Milei and his cabinet at the Casa Rosada “no comment was made” on the report.
The IMF warned in its report of the risks for Argentina if its president fails to implement his economic plans and the country does not apply “a lasting fiscal consolidation”. In its latest report, the IMF reduced the growth forecast for the Latin American country by 5.6 points. So, while in the previous estimates carried out in October a growth of 2.8% was expected in Argentina, in just three months it has gone to a decrease of 2 .8%
The IMF also expects inflation to rise “in the short term” in Argentina due to the “realignment of relative prices and the removal of old price controls, the latest depreciation of the currency and its transfer to prices”, after the consumer price index was 211.4% in 2023.
When Adorni was asked about whether the Executive was working with the same projections, the presidential spokesman limited himself to saying that its members continue to “work hard every day” and that they do not consider “that it is necessary to compare”.
