The government of President Javier Milei has issued a decree calling an extraordinary session of Congress from February 2 to 27, 2026. The primary objective is to pass a project that involves the drastic destruction of labor and union rights for the Argentine working class. This project aims to dismantle both individual labor rights and the Argentine union model, limiting or eliminating the right to strike, collective bargaining by industry, and factory assemblies. It will also create new business opportunities for a handful of power partners through the so-called "Labor Assistance Fund." This fund, to be created with a mandatory 3% monthly contribution from employers, is estimated at over 4 billion dollars annually and will be managed by private entities—banks and fintechs—charging a 1% commission. Its main function, according to Minister Luis Caputo, will be to create a capital market to lend to the government to continue servicing the external debt. These contributions will no longer go to the Argentine Integrated Pension System (SIPA), defunding ANSES and potentially provoking a crisis that would justify the return of another lucrative business for the same vested interests: the AFJPs. Concurrently, the government is also seeking to dismantle the Glaciers Law to enable mining operations by multinational corporations, marking a regression from the principle of minimum budgets validated by the Supreme Court in 2019.
