Hours after the President Javier Milei affirmed that the “base law” had to be “thrown away”, La Libertad Avanza advanced with the majority opinion in the Chamber of Deputies, where a limited version of the labor reform was included and Banco Nación was excluded from the list of companies subject to privatization. It was after a heated debate in the General Legislation, Constitutional Affairs and Budget committees.
The majority opinion received 61 signatures. The PRO sealed its full support, while the UCR, We Make the Federal Coalition and Federal Innovation joined with dissidents. Although there are still points under discussion, the ruling party arrives at the vote better positioned than on the last opportunity and hopes to achieve the half sanction in the session that will be called for Monday at 11.
The Civic Coalition presented its own opinion that, among other things, does not include any delegation of powers. The socialist Mónica Fein and the Buenos Aires native Margarita Stolbizer also signed an alternative office. Meanwhile, Unión por la Patria and the Left Front each promoted rejection opinions.
The highlight of this Thursday was the elimination of Banco Nación from the companies to be privatized, a demand that fell very strongly from Córdoba. In a “poroteo” held in the last hours with dialogue-oriented deputies, the Government had to admit that it did not have the votes and gave in so as not to risk a defeat in the chamber.
The case of the banking entity had become the main objection of Cordoba governor Martín Llaryora, who has five deputies. With this reduction, the list of privatizations went from the 41 companies of the original “omnibus law” to only 11, among which Aerolíneas Argentinas and Radio y Televisión Argentina (RTA) appear.
On the other hand, the ruling finally incorporated the labor reform chapter, which this Wednesday had stalled the negotiations. There was also a pruning: of the almost 60 articles that the Executive powerended up including only about 15 points after a complaint from the head of Hacemos Coalificación Federal, Miguel Pichetto.
In the “pichettista” bench, the signatures in dissent were from Ignacio García Aresca, Juan Brügge and Oscar Agost Carreño from Córdoba, and Nicolás Massot from Buenos Aires. One of the objections was to guarantee, via the Sustainability Guarantee Fund, the recomposition of pension assets by 8%, the payment of final sentences to retirees and the automatic flow to non-transferred and harmonized pension funds. The section referring to the sale of FGS shares was eliminated in the opinion.
Another dissidence from We Make the Federal Coalition was to add the Theater Institute, the Music Institute and the Inti to the list of organizations that the Executive will not be able to dissolve.
Likewise, both the Pichetto bloc and the UCR and Federal Innovation asked to incorporate the tobacco chapter, to equalize the tax burden of companies in the sector and prevent “unfair competition” from one of them, Tabacalera Sarandí. “Clear rules must be for everyone. “Political power is there to balance, not to give in to a specific lobby,” said radicalism.
The debate, which was led by the ruling party Santiago Santurio, was spicy and there was no shortage of shouting or cross accusations. At the outset, Christian Castillo, from the Left Front, asked, without success, to go to an intermediate room until the text that the Government negotiated with the other blocks of the non-Kirchnerist opposition was known. “We don’t know what text there is to debate. “This is something unprecedented, unusual, irregular, illegal,” he denounced.
In another high point of the plenary session, Germán Martínez, head of Unión por la Patria, revealed that “in the next few hours” they will request a special session to discuss Milei’s DNU, which was already rejected in the Senate. The news fell like a bomb in the middle of the debate.
“If you give a quorum to this atrocity, give a quorum to the rejection of DNU 70/23. Don’t hide, don’t falsify reality, don’t look to the side. If you are going to shatter democracy and the Argentine economy with the Bases Law, allow yourself to at least have a dissidence and come to build the quorum and vote against the DNU that is making a mess of the lives of 45 million Argentines,” he exclaimed.
The labor reform
The final reform does not include the elimination of solidarity dues to unions, which meant a blow to their collection. Radicalism insists on including the issue and raised it as a dissidence. “Workers must be the true recipients of union protection instead of being sources of resources and financing,” the UCR stated in the document presented to the committees.
Among the points that did remain, fines for unregistered work are definitively eliminated in order to encourage contracting in a dependency relationship. The trial period will be valid for six months, but the Collective labor agreements may extend this period up to eight months in companies with six and up to 100 workers, and up to one year in companies with up to five workers.
On the other hand, through a collective bargaining agreement, the parties may replace the traditional compensation regime with a labor termination fund or system, the cost of which will always be borne by the employer, with a monthly contribution that may not exceed 8% of the computable remuneration. Employers may also choose to contract a private system at their own expense, in order to cover compensation.
In another order, the independent worker may have up to five “collaborators” to carry out a productive undertaking and may benefit from a special regime based on the autonomous relationship, without there being a link of dependency between them or with the people contracting the services. or works.
On the other hand, participation in blockades or seizures of establishments, whether total or partial, will constitute a “serious labor injury” and may be taken as grounds for dismissal. In addition, penalties of between six months and three years in prison are established for preventing, hindering or hindering access to premises or industries “in order to obtain a benefit or cause harm.”
