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Shops and supermarkets closed, flights were cancelled and garbage piled up Thursday (February 19, 2026) arsenic Argentine workers staged their 4th wide onslaught of President Javier Milei's term, immoderate clashing with police.
The fewer buses moving successful Buenos Aires were obscurity adjacent full, though car postulation was unusually dense arsenic galore workers observed the 24-hour onslaught against a contentious labour reform.
Dozens of flights were cancelled and bid stations were near deserted with lone a fistful of buses running, AFP observed.
On roads starring into the capital, tiny groups of protesters blocked traffic.
Later successful the day, respective 1000 demonstrators gathered extracurricular parliament, wherever a fewer twelve participants engaged successful moving battles with police, throwing bottles and stones.
Officers replied with teardrop gas, h2o cannons and rubber bullets to wide the area.
Police were observed making astir a twelve arrests.
The CGT labour federation said much workers adhered to the walkout telephone than during immoderate of the erstwhile 3 strikes.
"It has levels of compliance similar ne'er earlier nether this government," national person Jorge Sola told Radio con Vos, claiming that "90 percent of enactment had stopped."
The contested reforms pushed by budget-slashing Mr. Milei, an ideological state of U.S. President Donald Trump, would marque it easier to prosecute and occurrence workers successful a state wherever occupation information is already hard to travel by.
It would besides trim severance pay, bounds the close to strike, summation enactment hours and restrict vacation provisions.
The measurement was approved by the enclosure of deputies successful the aboriginal greeting hours of Friday, and volition spell backmost to the Senate for a last greenish light.
"I privation to enactment due to the fact that I americium acrophobic of losing my occupation but I cannot get there. I volition person to walk," Nora Benitez, a 46-year-old location caregiver, said up of a 5 kilometer trek to her occupation on streets reeking of uncollected garbage.
Reforms spark protests
The labour enactment comes arsenic Argentina's system is showing signs of a downturn successful manufacturing, with much than 21,000 companies having shuttered successful 2 years nether Milei.
He had travel to powerfulness aft wielding a chainsaw astatine rallies during the 2023 predetermination run to symbolize the heavy cuts helium planned to marque to nationalist spending.
Unions accidental immoderate 3,00,000 jobs person been mislaid since Mr. Milei's austerity measures began.
Most recently, Fate — Argentina's main tyre mill — connected Wednesday (February 18, 2026) announced the closure of its works successful Buenos Aires, prompting immoderate 900 occupation cuts.
The past wide onslaught successful Argentina was connected April 10, 2025, but adherence was uneven arsenic workers successful the nationalist transport strategy did not join.
Last week, thousands of radical demonstrated successful Buenos Aires arsenic senators debated the betterment bill, and clashes with constabulary resulted successful astir 30 arrests.
On Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the authorities issued an antithetic connection informing reporters astir the "risk" of covering protests, and announced it would found an "exclusive zone" from which the media tin work.
"In the lawsuit of acts of violence, our forces volition act," a connection from the Security Ministry said.
Almost 40% of Argentine workers deficiency ceremonial employment contracts, and unions accidental the caller measures volition marque matters worse.
But the authorities argues they volition successful information trim under-the-table employment and make caller jobs by lowering the taxation load connected employers.
Mr. Milei, successful bureau since December 2023, has achieved astatine slightest 1 of his macroeconomic goals: bringing yearly ostentation down from 150 percent to 32 percent successful 2 years.
But it is simply a occurrence that has travel astatine the outgo of monolithic nationalist assemblage occupation cuts and a driblet successful disposable income that has sapped depletion and economical activity.
Mr. Milei volition travel Thursday's (February 19, 2026) events astatine location from Washington, wherever helium attended the archetypal gathering of Trump's "Board of Peace," which has drawn disapproval arsenic an effort to rival the United Nations.
