Buenos Aires Herald 
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT, for its Spanish initials) filed a union protection action in court to halt the enforcement of the recent government decree seeking to limit the right to strike by expanding the number of activities considered essential.
Union representatives had already said they would move forward with this as soon as the measure was announced last Wednesday. They filed the lawsuit on Monday before Labor Court No. 3, headed by Judge Moira Fullana.
In a statement, the labor union condemned the decree because it attempts to “suppress the right to strike in Argentina with a stroke of the pen and without debate.” It warned that the labor movement “will fight in the courts, in the streets, and in the workplace.”
Last week, CGT Co-Secretary General Héctor Daer said he was “confident” that the courts would uphold what they had already ruled in previous instances on the matter. In January 2024, the National Labor Appeals Chamber decided to suspend the labor reforms included in President Javier Milei’s economic deregulation mega-decree issued in December 2023, known as “Basis for the reconstruction of the Argentine economy.”
At the time, the judges ruled in response to a filing made by the CGT.
“They’re reiterating the same thing established in Decree DNU 70/23, which sought to curtail the right to strike for many activities, making it impossible to take direct action,” the union leader stated.
ATE is also going to to court
The State Workers Association (ATE) union filed an injunction with the court to declare the unconstitutionality of the decree limiting the right to strike. The union is part of the Autonomous Central Autonomous Workers’ Union, a branch of the labor union CTA.
“The effects of this decree must be suspended immediately. Practically the text itself has already been declared unconstitutional. In this instance, there is nothing else to do but ratify the previously issued ruling,” said Rodolfo Aguiar, head of ATE (National Labor Organization), referencing a section regarding labor reform from a 2023 decree the judiciary has already struck down.
The union leader also stated on social media that the situation presents “clear unconstitutionality.”
“The right to strike is our fundamental right. If it is taken away from us, we workers will have nothing left,” he added.
A decree limiting the right to strike
Last Wednesday, the government published DNU 340/2025 limiting the right to strike in activities considered essential. These sectors must guarantee mandatory operation of between 50 and 75% in the event of a union dispute.
The services covered by the regulation included healthcare services, including transport of medical and hospital supplies; pharmaceutical services, including production, transportation, distribution, and marketing of drinking water, gas, other fuels, and electricity; and telecommunications services, including internet and satellite communications.
Also included were commercial aeronautics and air and port traffic control; customs and immigration services; childcare and education at the nursery, preschool, primary, secondary, and special education levels; and maritime and river transport of people, goods, and cargo, among others.