Full article down below:
spoiler
The reform introduces a profound change in the labor regime and would be a political victory for Milei, while Argentina's largest labor union, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and other unions prepare to mobilize in front of Congress amid a partial transportation strike.
Among the central points of the project, presented by the Executive in mid-December, is the creation of a Labor Assistance Fund to finance severance payments, which can be funded with employer contributions equivalent to 3% of the payroll in place of contributions to Social Security.
The project also allows for the payment of salaries in foreign currency or in kind. The workday can be extended to 12 hours. While the maximum 48-hour workweek remains unchanged, the possibility of extending the daily workday from the current eight hours to a maximum of twelve hours is being considered, through the implementation of a "bank of hours" system.
This scheme would allow for compensating for excess work on some days with a lower workload on others, seeking greater adaptability to the production needs of companies.
The head of the Union for the Fatherland bloc in the Senate, José Mayans, said that he was going to stage the rejection of the main opposition force to the labor reform project promoted by the Government of Javier Milei in today's debate, and that is what he is doing.
The bill reduces the power of unions by weakening sectoral collective agreements and individual negotiations between workers and employers.
It restricts the right to strike by requiring minimum services of between 50% and 75% in sectors considered essential. Severance pay is reduced from one month's salary per year of service to one month's salary, and unions will only be allowed to hold meetings with the employer's authorization.
The stated objective of the initiative is to modernize legislation considered outdated and rigid, to stimulate the creation of registered employment and offer a more flexible framework to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Furthermore, the bill reinstates the concept of in-kind compensation or "food vouchers." This would allow companies to pay a portion of wages through non-monetary benefits, such as vouchers or food baskets.
This mechanism, which was already used in Argentina in the 1990s, generates debate about whether it could mean a loss of purchasing power or a precarization of wages by being exempt from social charges, or whether it constitutes a valid negotiation tool to improve the worker's income, as expressed by the Center for Studies of the New Economy, in its Wage Impact Analysis in October 2025.
You do still get overtime over 8 hours; not sure if that's what they "extended" in Argentina or if they just mean it's normal for 12 hour workdays now.
Dismissal without severance pay is typically the case. Americans rarely get access to unemployment; the four times I've tried to access it, it takes so long to approve me that any bills that I Would have needed to cover would have already gone past due. I never got approved, anyways, because the employer basically has to be like "Yes, he did voluntarily quit and I want to give him unemployment!" and if you challenge it the court usually sides with the bougie.
Most "essential" unions are deemed "critical" and are unable to strike. Public employees, for example. That basically kills a good chunk of people that would be striking.
Where is this?
I made a mistake, I was assuming full-time work; anything over 8 hours is overtime
I've only had one ft job where this was true, among many other ft jobs I've held.
If you're working forty hours a week and you work more than eight hours a day assuming you're doing 8 hour days five days a week you are getting OT because that's more than 40 hours total a week. Anything over 40 hours is OT and most people work their eight hour days. Special circumstances aside.
That's not anything over 8 hours being overtime. I can work three 12 hour days and not get overtime if I work three hours another day.
I once had a (non-union, no less!) job where every day where 8 hours was surpassed, everything over that was overtime, regardless of whether there were 50 hours worked a week or 32.
You get overtime in the US for over 40 hours in a week but not necessarily for over 8 hours in a day. You can work over 8 hours in a day without overtime if other days in the week are shorter than 8 hours.
Yeah, I more so meant if you're working 40 hours a week. Good catch, am exhausted myself from OT.
Yeah I was gonna ask how to get overtime for just more than just 8hrs in a day
Have a good union contract (my job is time and a half for more than 40 in a week OR 8 in a day, double time at over 10 in a day OR 50 in a week) is about the only way.
do you regularly have to work overtime? i feel like giving them 40 hours a week is already bleeding me white and there's just nothing more to give. it's basically my 8 most awake, most productive hours 5 days out of 7. i hate the idea of overtime so much. the only reason you could possibly get me to do it is because i like my coworkers and dont want them to get completely fucked over. and even then, my patience for this shit is razor thin.
yes.
Not often, because I also already hate working 40 hours as it is, so if I work OT it's usually because I REALLY need the extra money.
... i'm a spoiled baby, arent i?