The president of Argentina, Javier Milei. Photo: Bloomberg.
An Argentinian court of second instance declared as unconstitutional the labor reform contained in the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) issued by President Javier Milei, which intends to modify or repeal 366 laws to deregulate various sectors of the economy.
“We declare the constitutional invalidity of title IV [articles 53 to 97] of DNU 70/2024,” announced the National Chamber of Labor Appeals in a ruling on Tuesday, January 30.
The court of second instance granted the injunction request presented by the largest labor union of Argentina, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), considering that the national government is not empowered to legislate on labor regulations through a DNU.
The court considered that none of the acceptable exceptions exists that could attribute to the government the capacity to legislate, given that Congress is in operation “and the government itself joined the discussion of the extraordinary sessions the issue of ratification of the DNU.”
The court further stated that “it cannot be overlooked that the need and urgency of the reform do not appear to be duly justified,” therefore “the constitutional requirements have not been met for such a decree to be considered valid.”
The cort concluded that since “rights to food are at stake—per se or through their derivations, the objective circumstances are configured to consider that the issues introduced—due to their structural quality and quantity—in Title IV of the decree in question should only result from an essential specific debate and decision by the Legislative Branch [parliament].”
The megadecree was presented by Milei on December 17, a week after taking office, and it came into force on December 29.
In its resolution, the National Chamber of Labor Appeals observed that there was no impediment for the two chambers of parliament to meet and analyze the president’s megadecree, and added that on December 27, before it came into effect, “the legislative body was convened, in office, and with powers to examine the content of the reforms promoted in said DNU.”
The ruling was issued by Judges Mario Fera, Manuel Díaz Selva, and Héctor Guisado.
Six days ago, Judge Liliana Rodríguez Fernández declared the invalidity of six articles of the DNU that legislated on labor matters, waiting for a court to define the underlying issue.
Another juge, Ernesto Kreplak, accepted the day before an appeal for protection to suspend another article of the DNU that repealed the Land Law which regulates the possession of Argentinian land by foreigners.
The DNU eliminates several price controls, enables the privatization of public companies, reforms the Customs Code to facilitate exports, authorizes the transfer of the total or partial share package of the state airline Aerolíneas Argentinas, and deregulates satellite internet services to allow the entry of companies like Starlink owned by US billionaire Elon Musk.
The CGT had highlighted the unconstitutionality of the DNU last week, when it led the general strike and the mobilization called against the DNU and the draft Omnibus Law, an initiative of more than 500 articles that attributes legislative power to the president, Javier Milei, and which will be discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies.
(Sputnik)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SC
