Several thousand people demonstrated in Buenos Aires on Thursday, the day before May Day, against the austerity and labor reform of ultraliberal President Javier Milei, with the main trade union CGT promising to "intensify social conflicts".

Activists from a meat industry workers' union march towards Plaza de Mayo during a demonstration organized by Argentine unions on April 30, 2026, on the eve of International Workers' Day and against the government of Argentine President Javier Milei.

Activists from a meatpacking industry workers' union march toward the Plaza de Mayo during a demonstration organized by Argentine unions on April 30, 2026, on the eve of International Workers' Day and against the government of Argentine President Javier Milei. AFP - JUAN MABROMATA

By :

RFI with AFP

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“We are going to escalate the conflicts, patience is over!” Octavio Argüello, co-general secretary of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), told the crowd. “We can no longer tolerate the people always bearing the brunt of the budgetary adjustments.”

"Clearly, we are going to take a much tougher forceful action," threatened co-leader Jorge Sola ahead of the demonstration, without confirming an upcoming general strike, which would be the fifth of the Milei presidency, which began in December 2023.

In a festive atmosphere of firecrackers and drums, the traditional Labour Day march, brought forward by one day, only half filled the emblematic Place de Mai, in front of the presidency.

In the crowd, protesters say they are particularly worried about longer working hours, cuts to severance pay, and the erosion of collective protections. "We're losing rights, and the economic situation is getting harder and harder," summarizes Oscar Marin, a recycling worker.

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Luz Marina Jaureguiberry, leader of the teachers' union Sadop, denounces an ultraliberal model that "undermines social justice".

May Day takes place in a tense social climate, marked by the adoption in Parliament in February of a sweeping labor deregulation reform championed by the government. The reform is the subject of legal challenges, including one filed by the CGT union, which considers it "unconstitutional."

For the executive branch, the text should make the labor market more flexible and stimulate employment, in a country where 43% of workers are in the informal economy, a proportion that has been rising for two years.