INTERNATIONAL
Workers, youth, and retirees in Argentina paralyzed the country in a national strike against the Milei government’s reactionary labor law reforms. Although the measure has passed both houses of Congress, the fight isn’t over.
Otto Fors
February 20, 2026
On February 19, workers, students, and retirees paralyzed Argentina in a national strike against President Javier Milei’s labor law reform. It marked the fourth national strike since the far-right government took power in 2023, and came on the heels of massive mobilizations against the reactionary, anti-worker bill.
The bill, which passed the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, restricts workers’ right to organize and makes it easier to lay employees off, while extending the workday to 12 hours, eliminating overtime, and reducing sick leave. It also reduces employer contribution to the national pension fund. These reforms — made under the guise of “modernizing” the economy and spurring investment — are part of Milei’s broader program of “chainsaw” austerity. Since taking power, his administration has attacked the working class, made cuts to public services, and subordinated the country to the IMF.
Following the bill’s passage in the Senate earlier this month, workers, labor unions, youth, retirees, and anti-capitalist parties including the Party of Socialist Workers (PTS) fiercely protested outside the Capitol in Buenos Aires despite brutal government repression. This growing anger from below forced the CGT, the country’s largest union federation, to call a strike after months of passivity. The union bureaucracy has repeatedly made concessions to the Milei government, preferring to negotiate rather than mobilize the full force of the rank and file behind a strike.
Despite the CGT’s betrayals, Thursday’s strike disrupted huge parts of the country. Public transit, including subways and bus lines, was ground to a halt, while many flights were cancelled. Factories, banks, and many other businesses remained closed, and trash lined the sidewalks as sanitation workers joined the strike. Schools, hospitals, and ports were also disrupted, and workers erected roadblocks on highways and staged protests.
The role of the socialist Left, particularly the Left Front and the PTS, was fundamental both in the debate in Congress and in the streets. The party organized militant actions across the country, and elected leaders, including Myriam Bregman and Nicolás Del Caño, denounced the bill and the Milei government in speeches both inside Congress and amid protests outside.
On Friday, the Chamber of Deputies approved the reactionary bill. But Milei and the Far Right aren’t the only ones to blame — it wouldn’t have passed if it weren’t for the traditional center-left Peronist parties who helped provide quorum in the lower house that allowed the legislative session to take place. Far from being any sort of “opposition,” these politicians have taken a conciliatory approach to Milei and helped repress mobilizations against his neoliberal agenda.
But the fight is far from over. Thursday’s national strike showed the power of the working class, militant labor unions, and the revolutionary socialist Left. As our PTS comrades at our sister site, La Izquierda Diario, argue, workers must redouble the struggle, calling on other sectors and youth to join the fight against Milei’s austerity agenda. This means meetings and assemblies in every workplace and school, and battling for a full-hearted and indefinite national strike, rejecting the passivity of the labor bureaucracy.
Otto Fors
Otto is a college professor in the New York area.
