Argentine Justice rejects Milei Decree that limited the right to strike

Decision released on Monday (30) considered the decree of the Unconstitutional Argentine President. Javier Milei, president of Argentina, in an image of May 14, 2025 Tomas Cuesta/Reuters the court of Argentina declared as an unconstitutional a decree of President Javier Milei who limited the right to strike in various activities because it considered them essential, according to a decision released on Monday (30). On its grounds, the court understood that the conditions “of rigorous exceptionality” were not given for the executive branch to advance in attributions that belong to Congress. The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) had filed a request against the presidential decree because it considered it a violation of the labor statutes and the right to strike established by the Constitution. The executive order increased the number of activities considered essential and therefore forced to provide services during a strike, including the merchant navy and telecommunications. The court questioned that the decree did not have the character of “necessity and urgency” that it must comply and that it was issued while Congress was in the middle of the session, which did not prevent the executive from sending a bill for eventual debate in the Legislature. “There are no exceptional circumstances or situations of necessity and urgency that have prevented the constitutional process of promulgation of laws,” said the Full Judge by invalidating the presidential measure. The court had already suspended the application of the decree and has now ruled that it was unconstitutional. The controversial decree also created the category of activities of “transcendental importance”, including the transportation of people, construction, food industry and gastronomy, to which also limited the right to strike. Upon taking office in December 2023, Milei issued a megadecret that included a labor chapter with the same measures, but he was suspended by the court in August 2024 as unconstitutional, a decision that still needs to be analyzed by the Supreme Court. The magistrate is the same who, last week, suspended another measure of the executive who eliminated a holiday for national civil servants, a prerogative that most employees in other sectors have, but that the executive considered “a privilege.” The government appealed this decision.

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