Buenos Aires, February 14 (NA) – Former Labor Minister and current Justicialist Party deputy Kelly Olmos anticipated a scenario of strong political confrontation around the labor reform to be debated in the Chamber of Deputies, and harshly questioned the position of the national government, which she accused of promoting changes that imply 'more labor exploitation' in a context of economic deterioration. After the project's approval in the Senate, the ruling party seeks for the initiative to advance without modifications and to be sanctioned before March 1. 'There will be a struggle between the government's will, which wants to make this aspect central to the President's speech on March 1, and us who will seek the possibility of allies to make modifications to issues that we consider truly tremendous,' Olmos stated in an interview with Splendid AM 990. Olmos especially targeted the article related to occupational diseases, which—she explained—was incorporated at the last minute. 'It could be the Achilles' heel of this law and I believe it is one of the points that most irritate,' she held. Another of the questioned axes is the so-called Labor Contribution Fund (FAL), a mechanism that provides for modifications in the financing of the pension system and in the scheme of compensations. 'Financing the pension system to generate working capital instruments so that the Ministry of Economy can be funded is also an extremely irritating point,' she affirmed. According to what the Argentine News Agency was able to learn, the former official indicated that the scheme could especially harm small and medium-sized enterprises. 'SMEs have low staff turnover. This fund is designed for large companies. SMEs will end up financing large companies,' she warned, and added that behind the new scheme could be 'a new adjustment on retirees and pensioners or a direct return to proposing the privatization of the system.' When asked about the role of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Olmos considered that the current economic situation impacts social mobilization. 'There are moments where the threat of unemployment demobilizes, frightens. In this sense, she stated that the challenge is 'to strengthen the debate and clarification' to restore the movement's capacity for action. The former minister also referred to the internal situation of Peronism after the electoral defeat and the need for a redefinition of leadership with a view to 2027. 'Peronism necessarily has to have that debate after the defeat and it will be settled when we have the project and the candidates to compete in 2027,' she indicated. Recalling historical precedents, she mentioned the internal dispute between Carlos Menem and Antonio Cafiero as an example of resolving conflicts through the vote. 'All the debate that took place around the construction of renewal finally had to be resolved in an internal where the bets seemed to be on Cafiero and it ended up being Menem by popular will,' she recalled. For the parliamentary treatment, she confirmed that next Wednesday the corresponding committee will meet and that in the following weeks the debate in the chamber could take place. 'We are going to work to introduce modifications, achieve allies that allow us to change the health issue, the FAL and also strengthen collective bargaining agreements, because one cannot move towards unilateral employer power,' she affirmed. For Olmos, the background of the project is economic. 'Argentina, due to the lack of a development project, is suffering a huge loss of competitiveness and they have no better idea than to compensate it with more labor exploitation,' she concluded. 'It's a point that came in through the back door, completely outside previous discussions. The unions are aware of that level of social demobilization,' she expressed. 'In addition to people having to fight cancer, they are going to have salary reductions.'
