Overview
- The Confederation of International Trade Unions (CSI) moved Argentina to category 5 in its 2026 Global Rights Index, placing the country among the ten worst nations for workers because of restrictions on protest, interference in union life, and alleged anti-union dismissals.
- The national government issued decrees 406–409/2026 to put the Law of Modernization Labor into operation, and decree 407 changes ultraactivity rules so the Labor Secretariat can treat expired collective agreements as ended and open mandatory renegotiations.
- Major unions led by the CGT and the CTAs took the dispute to the International Labour Organization this week and formally filed complaints in Geneva while also preparing domestic administrative and judicial challenges.
- Union leaders say the reglamentation curtails the right to strike, limits union autonomy, and forces mass renegotiation of wages and conditions; employers and some lawyers say it will decentralize bargaining and lower litigation risk.
- The situation builds on a year of clashes that included large 2025 protests with many injuries and high-profile cases like Federico Giuliani, and it signals a regional pattern of deteriorating labor protections that could reshape workplace rights and disputes in Argentina.