Buenos Aires, December 16 (NA) – National Deputy Julia Strada (Union for the Homeland) stated that the labor reform is 'a blow to the workers' piggybank' because, in her view, the government's project creates the so-called Labor Assistance Fund (FAL) to finance layoffs with funds from ANSES. 'They are going to finance layoffs for companies with the workers' money, it's a scandal,' Strada emphasized in statements to the 'Without a Tie' program, broadcast on Splendid AM 990. According to information obtained by the Argentine News Agency, the legislator mentioned, among other criticisms, that the Executive's proposal 'defunds unions, interferes with centralized branch-level collective bargaining, and removes rights such as overtime pay.' 'It's a blow to the workers' piggybank because the pension fund belongs to the workers who contribute to the system today, which is already having problems due to informality that has reached 43%,' she explained. According to the Peronist deputy, the FAL will generate a fund of money that 'very quickly will end up in the hands of a few, who will make a financial business with the workers' money.' She highlighted that the labor reform project arrives at Congress in the context of 'a dramatic situation in terms of the destruction of the productive apparatus,' and as an example, she pointed out that 'under (Mauricio) Macri, 20,000 companies closed in four years, and under (Javier) Milei, 22,000 companies closed in two years.' 'This is not a reform to create jobs, because that has not been the case in Argentine history and because that is not how the Argentine economy works,' she said and added that 'people who were about to retire, who were 5 or 6 years short, and who cannot find work anymore due to their age are being left without jobs.' Finally, she asked: 'Why would an employer hire workers just because their labor costs are reduced?' and stressed that 'new jobs are created when the employer needs them, not because they are made cheaper.'
