Court blocks labor reforms by Argentine President Milei. The Taiwanese army again discovers suspected Chinese balloons

Ultra-liberal Argentine President Javier Milei has suffered a legal setback in his attempt to restrict workers’ rights. A labor appeals court has taken an interim measure and suspended Milei’s labor market reforms and thus an important part of his emergency decree, national media reported unanimously on Wednesday. The country’s largest union had previously filed a lawsuit against it. The court ruled that so many important labor market measures could not be adopted by decree without congress. The government will appeal the decision, TV channel TN reported, citing prosecutors.

In December, Milei signed a decree with a total of thirty measures that provides for the repeal of various laws regulating the labor and real estate markets. The ruling suspends labor market reforms, which include sweeping changes such as restrictions on the right to strike, changes to compensation and a cut in union revenues.

For the CGT trade union federation, the court’s ruling is a partial success. “This court ruling puts a brake on the regressive and anti-worker reforms in the labor market,” CGT said, according to TN. The union recently mobilized thousands of people to take to the streets against the economically liberal course of the new government. She has also called for a general strike on January 24. The last strike by the left-wing Peronist trade union federation took place in May 2019 and largely paralyzed the country.

Argentina is in a serious economic crisis. The inflation rate is over 160 percent and about 40 percent of people in the once wealthy country live below the poverty line. South America’s second-largest economy suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of much tax revenue. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt continues to grow. (sda/dpa)