Buenos Aires, February 16 (NA) — In a race against time, La Libertad Avanza is seeking to reach an agreement with dialogist blocs over the controversial article that modifies the system of licenses for illness or accidents in the labor reform project. The goal is to ensure its approval this Thursday before the end of the extraordinary sessions. To this end, the bloc will try to convince the UCR, PRO, and Unidos blocs, which generally support the labor reform, to pass a complementary law guaranteeing the payment of 100% of the salary to workers suffering from a serious illness, as is currently the case. La Libertad Avanza does not want to introduce changes to the labor reform to prevent it from returning to the Senate, as they want President Javier Milei to inaugurate the ordinary sessions on March 1 with the labor reform and the Juvenile Penal Regime laws already approved. Parliamentary sources told the Argentine News Agency that the main objective is to convince allies to pass a complementary law, as it is unlikely to change the spirit of the reform through a regulation, since the labor reform established that payment for licenses due to illness or accident not related to work will be reduced to 50%. If no agreement is reached, the only resource the ruling coalition has is to introduce the change into the text that the Chamber of Deputies will approve on Thursday and send it immediately on Friday the 20th so that they issue a ruling with that change for the Senate to ratify the modifications in a session to be held on the 27th. Patricia Bullrich in the Senate (NA Agency) Negotiations However, this is the scenario the government wants to avoid, and for this reason, this weekend, the head of the Senate bloc, Patricia Bullrich, held conversations with the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, and the Secretary of Legal and Technical Affairs, María Ibarzábal, to seek a solution to this controversy over a point in the labor reform project. In statements to TN, Bullrich said they were 'working' on the issue to determine how to incorporate the change during the debate in the Chamber of Deputies without the need for the project to return to the Senate for ratification. The agreement must be sealed before this Wednesday at noon, as at 2 p.m. the plenary of the Labor Legislation and Budget Commissions will meet, where there will be a three-hour round of consultations and then the ruling will be issued to be dealt with in a session to be held on Thursday. Details The modification of Article 208 of the Labor Contract Law establishes that, in the case of an illness or accident not related to the work task, after three months, 50% of the salary will be paid, without detailing what happens in cases of serious illness, and 75% if the person has dependents. Bullrich said that the idea is to maintain the payment of 100% of the salaries for serious illnesses, but a 'reliable' medical certificate or a medical board will be required.
