Argentine workers mark May Day with protests over Milei's labor-law
overhaul
[May 01, 2026] By
ISABEL DEBRE
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine workers protested in the
capital of Buenos Aires on Thursday, as annual May Day demonstrations in
the South American nation coincided with smoldering anger over President
Javier Milei's recent overhaul of long-robust labor protections.
A day before International Workers’ Day, the General Confederation of
Labor, or CGT, Argentina’s largest union group, marched to the
government headquarters downtown to “defend decent employment” against
Milei’s changes to the labor code, which since 1974 had guaranteed
generous protections and rights for Argentine workers but also raised
business costs that scared off foreign investors.
“We want to say to this government, enough is enough," Octavio Argüello,
a leader of CGT, told the crowds of workers beating drums, waving
banners and chanting against Milei. "Our patience has run out, Mr.
President.”
Past presidents for decades tried to liberalize the labor market but
failed in the face of fierce resistance from Argentina's powerful
unions. Despite weeks of protests and a nationwide strike, Milei pushed
through the labor-law package in February in a major victory for his
free-market agenda.
Milei’s opponents are clinging to an appeal process challenging the
law’s constitutionality. Union leaders plan to file a further petition
after a court last week overturned an injunction that had suspended the
law’s implementation at their request. The case is expected to go to the
Supreme Court.
The labor overhaul has struck a nerve in a nation where workers’ unions
helped found the left-leaning Peronist movement that dominated politics
here since the 1940s. The issue is particularly sensitive as Milei’s
flagship drive to eliminate inflation stalls, wages lag behind prices
and unemployment ticks up.
“The economy is not growing as strongly as the government thought it
would," said Marcelo J. García, Americas director for the geopolitical
risk consultancy Horizon Engage. "The majority of Argentines may feel
that they’re not seeing the benefits of (Milei's) economic program. And
that's Milei's biggest political risk at the moment."
The new law, aimed at helping businesses more easily hire and fire new
workers, allows companies to increase workdays to 12 hours up from
eight, extend probation periods during which employees can be dismissed
without benefits and replace overtime with time off instead of extra
pay.
“This is a government that doesn’t care about the people,” said Sergio
Aguirre, 51, a bus driver at the march. “Costs keep going up and our
salaries stay the same. We survive on overtime pay. Now they want to
take that away with the rest of our benefits.”
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Laborers hold flares during a May Day demonstration in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
 The legislation also curtails
workers’ right to strike, diminishes the power of national unions to
determine salaries across entire industries and limits courts’
discretion on severance payouts, which critics say long ensnared
employers in costly lawsuits and discouraged formal hiring. Nearly
half of all Argentines work off the books.
In the last few months Argentina’s construction and manufacturing
sectors have shown signs of recession.
Fundación Pro Tejer, a non-profit organization representing textile
manufacturers, reported this week that Argentina’s textile
production for the first two months of the year registered a nearly
30% drop year-on-year. Seven out of every 10 sewing machines now sit
idle in the country’s factories, it says.
The layoff notices are piling up. Argentina’s formal labor market
has lost roughly 200,000 jobs since Milei took office, according to
the Ministry of Human Capital, and unemployment in the last quarter
of 2025 rose over a percentage point compared to the same time the
year before, to 7.5% — a rate that’s still relatively low because of
Argentina’s massive share of informal workers.
Milei, who came to power in late 2023 on a tide of public
disenchantment with the budget-busting populism of his Peronist
predecessors, has dismissed reports of economic challenges as
“absurdities spread by the media.”
“We receive international recognition for our achievements,” he told
an economic conference late Wednesday. “But as the saying goes, ‘No
one is a prophet in his own land.’”
Thursday’s march offered an indication of what may lie ahead as the
president's promises of radical change run up against economic
misery.
“We'll stay in the street until the government changes or
backtracks," said 47-year-old Manuel Correa, who works at a textile
factory on the outskirts of Buenos Aires that slashed its workforce
in the last two years by 58%, or 350 employees. “We don't have an
alternative.”
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