After more than 16 hours of discussion, the Argentine Senate approved in the early hours of this Thursday (12) the labor reform project proposed by President Javier Milei, which changes working conditions in the country, characterized by a high level of unionization.
The Upper Chamber approved the project with 42 votes in favor, 30 against and no abstentions. Now, the initiative must be quickly forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, where the governing party will have the opportunity to enact the first bill related to this topic after several failed attempts in recent decades.
Among the changes presented by the project are the flexibility of contracts, reduction of compensation and facilitation of dismissals. In total, the proposal passed with 213 articles.
According to the Argentine portal Infobaein general terms, changes to the legislative text in the last 48 hours included the removal of the article on tax relief for large companies – which means more money for governors and the national government; concessions to unions and chambers of commerce with the maintenance of mandatory contributions.
Milei’s party also managed to include, as an annex to the law, the transfer of labor courts to the City of Buenos Aires, an issue that generated controversy among senators.
The general secretary of the presidency and sister of the Argentine ruler, Karina Milei, and the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Manuel Adorni, (both of whom are highly trusted by the president), followed the vote directly from the Senate.
“Historical, VLLC (Viva la llbertad, c*****)”, Milei posted, referring to the slogan of his presidential campaign, on the social network X immediately after the vote.
The government hopes that the labor reform project will overcome all legislative obstacles before March 1, when the regular period of Congress begins and Milei will give a speech to the nation. The debate and votes on this bill are currently being held in extraordinary sessions.
Passage through the Senate is the first achievement of A Liberdade Avança (LLA, Milei’s party) in Congress this 2026 and responds to the good result obtained in the legislative elections in October last year, when the formation of the party significantly increased its representation in both houses of Congress.
With the support of the Radical Civic Union (UCR, center-right), the Republican Proposal (PRO, right) – under the leadership of former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) – and the federal blocs, the LLA managed to get 38 senators to guarantee the quorum to start the session held this Wednesday.
The project reached the Upper Chamber after numerous changes to the text agreed at the last minute and negotiations between the government and provincial governors, whose parliamentary representatives expressed themselves in favor of the measure.
During Wednesday afternoon, at the same time that labor reform was being debated in the Senate, Buenos Aires Congress Square and the adjacent streets were the scene of a pitched battle between protesters against the reform and security forces, resulting in several injuries and arrests.
