ARGENTINIAN unions are moving closer to a 24-hour general strike after the country’s Senate approval of sweeping new anti-labour laws.

Argentina’s main union federation, the Confederation of General Workers (CGT), will hold an executive council meeting on Monday to formalise a call for the strike over the country’s far-right President Javier Milei’s proposals.

The government is also seeking to secure lower-house approval before March 1, when President Milei is set to open the 2026 ordinary legislative session. 

The CGT said it opposed the labour reform Bill “in its entirety,” arguing that it is “contrary to the National Constitution and international treaties with constitutional rank.” 

The federation also described the proposed new law as “harmful to workers and regressive.”

One of the new law’s most controversial proposals is a last-minute amendment introduced by far-right senators that cuts wages during medical leave for illnesses or accidents not related to work.

The CGT says the reform would force workers to go through those periods with salary reductions of 50 per cent or 75 per cent, which “affects workers’ pockets at moments when they have additional expenses derived from their medical condition.”