The Argentine subsidiary of a Brazilian firm, Coteminas Argentina S.A., has announced the layoff of 57 workers, adding to the 56 dismissed in November. These successive waves of layoffs have a harsh social impact in Santiago del Estero. The company cited the fall in purchasing power, the flood of imports, reduced tariffs on imported goods, and high production costs—energy, financial, and tax—as the reasons for the measure. Coteminas, the Brazilian textile company with its production plant in La Banda, Santiago del Estero, has just laid off 57 workers, joining 56 layoffs at the end of November 2025. The company once employed 1,200 workers, of which only about 400 remain today. The crisis generated by the economic policies of the far-right government of Javier Milei continues to destroy registered employment. From the AOT union, they noted that only about 220 people from that union remain with bi-weekly contracts, while the current total workforce is around 400 people. 'Today there is no security for the 400 of us who remain, and the company has already anticipated that if activity does not pick up, it will be forced to take more measures like this,' added Díaz. This has led to a decrease in sales and forced the adoption of adjustment measures, argued the management in a text published by the local portal Nuevo Diario. 'They claim they cannot sell their products because very low-cost imports arrive due to national government policy, and they tell us that if this continues, they will continue to lay people off,' said Mario Díaz, a textile union leader, in statements reported by the InfoGremiales portal. Severance pay will be made in installments.