Milei's labor reform advances to Senate despite general strike

BUENOS AIRES

Argentine deputies attend a session to debate labor law reforms at the National Congress in Buenos Aires, early on Feb. 20, 2026.

Argentina's chamber of deputies on Feb. 20 advanced a contentious labor reform backed by Javier Milei's government for senate consideration, despite a 24-hour general strike against the bill.

After 11 hours of debate, the so-called "labor modernization" law passed 135 to 115, a reform that has been described as "regressive and unconstitutional" by the Argentine labor federation.

The law is a key objective of the the second half of Milei's term, and must return to the upper house for final approval.

The general strike protesting Milei’s flagship overhaul of the country's labor law disrupted public transport, hospitals, ports and schools across Argentina on Feb. 19 and intensified a standoff between the libertarian leader and long-powerful workers’ unions.

Unions argue that the law will weaken the workers' protections that have defined Argentina since the rise of Peronism, the country’s dominant populist political movement, in the 1940s.

Roughly 40 percent Argentina’s 13 million registered workers belong to labor unions, according to union estimates, and many are closely allied with Peronism.