Catherwood LibraryILR School

Argentina’s major education unions are pushing back against sweeping new measures from President Javier Milei’s administration that aim to restrict the right to strike and dismantle national collective bargaining for teacher salaries. A presidential decree issued on May 21 reclassifies education as an “essential service,” a move that unions say is an unconstitutional tactic to suppress labor action—similar to previous decrees already struck down by Argentina’s courts. In parallel, a proposed legislative change would eliminate the federal government's role in salary negotiations, effectively weakening national standards for teacher pay. Unions, backed by Education International, argue these actions threaten democratic principles and public education, and are mobilizing both nationally and internationally to resist them.