Updated June 9, 2025 15:27

Two articles from a decree issued by President Javier Milei that affected the right to strike have been formally overturned after a labor appeals court backed the temporary suspension of the articles that had been declared a week ago by labor judge Moira Fullana. This means that articles 2 and 3 of the 340/2025, which declared a number of sectors to be “essential,” effectively limiting their right to strike, have definitively lost effect.

The ruling from the appeals court backed the decision Judge Fullana had made in relation to a stay from the General Confederation of Labor, who had demanded the articles be declared null. This means that the decree no longer has effect over the right to strike for private sector workers. The State Workers Association (ATE) is waiting to see whether the appeals court also backed Fullana’s ruling to suspend the effects of the decree for state workers, the Herald has learned.

Last week, the labor court initially suspended the effects of two articles within a recently issued presidential decree that severed the right to strike for a large section of Argentina’s workforce. The decree, signed by President Javier Milei in May, had declared several services “essential,” which meant that at least 75% of their workforce should be available to work, even during stoppages.

On June 2, Labor Judge Moira Fullana accepted a precautionary measure that had been filed by Argentina’s main trade union federation, the CGT, as well as a stay from state workers union ATE.

The decision effectively put a temporary stop to articles 2 and 3 of the 340/25 “decree of necessity and urgency” that had been issued by Milei on May 21. Monday’s decision means that decision is now final.

While the decree aimed to make modifications of the regime for the merchant navy, further details were listed later in the document with modifications to the right to strike.

Article 2 declared maritime navigation as an “essential” service, while article 3 included a widespread list of services that should guarantee a minimum provision of services even during “collective conflicts.” It established that, in the case of essential services, at least 75% of the Argentine workforce should be available, and it included sectors such as healthcare, truck drivers, air traffic control, and education.

It also added a new category, “transcendental services,” which had to guarantee at least 50% of workforce availability and included medicine production, radio and television broadcasting, public transport, banks and some production sectors.

“The questioned norm could violate the exercise of the rights that result from union freedom, which count on the most widespread legal and supralegal guarantees,” the judge wrote in her ruling.

ATE had asked the judiciary to declare the decree null and unconstitutional. Judge Fullana did not accept those requests but pointed out that, while the decree was issued within the constitutional framework, presidential decrees should only be used “if there is a state of necessity and urgency,” because they allow the executive power to legislate in “exceptional” situations.

“I do not find the urgency in modifying a law related to union freedom and the right to strike,” she said. She added that using a presidential decree is not necessary because Congress is fully operational, and mentioned that the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that the government’s “allusion to an economic crisis, in broad terms,” is not reason enough to use them.

Javier Milei’s administration had already tried to do this on two occasions before. The first, in a “mega-decree”, where the labor chapter was declared unconstitutional by a court. The second, in its so-called Ley Bases. However, after negotiations with the opposition, the articles severing the right to strike were taken down from the approved bill.

“They wanted to make us go back a century in terms of labor rights, and they couldn’t do it,” said ATE head Rodolfo Aguiar in a press release after the ruling. “This is a blow for an antidemocratic government, and a transcendental step for all workers.”

The CGT also celebrated the decision, saying they “will not allow the executive power to run over conquered rights.”