Key indicators at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2025, framed by the recent legislative victory of La Libertad Avanza (LLA), confirm and deepen the brutal transfer of surplus value from wage labor to capital that has characterized the political orientation of the current government, which, with a plan different from that of the previous Peronists (or Kirchnerists), has managed the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Stagnant inflation, devoured wages, and an increase in precarious or informal employment (hidden unemployment)

After the announced inflationary “stabilization”, workers have been left with a consolidated loss of purchasing power of their wages, while the “decline” in unemployment is masked by an alarming rise in informality.

Inflation has been slowing down and is estimated to close at 30% in 2025. But the fall in real wages has not stopped. The Minimum Living Wage (SMVM) has been frozen at 322,200 Argentine pesos since August 2025, prolonging its stagnation. Inflationary “stability” (around 2% per month) confirms the cumulative loss of purchasing power of wages. The unemployment rate has remained around 7.6%, but this figure hides the real magnitude of Argentine unemployment. This reality is better understood when we observe that the rate of informal employment rose to 43.2%, which means that the nominal decline in the unemployment rate hides greater precariousness and a brutal decline in the quality of employment.

Debt, Austerity, and Imperialist “Aid”

Fiscal austerity has been deepened to achieve primary surplus targets (estimated at 1.5% of GDP by the end of the year). Notable in this area are:

- Massive budget cuts: The government has continued to adjust the budget, concentrating cuts on pensions, subsidies and, critically, public works and decentralized agencies, which translates into a contraction of essential services and job losses.

- Layoffs in the Public Sector: The chainsaw has been relentless. More than 57,621 public sector jobs were eliminated through August 2025, concentrated in decentralized agencies and state-owned companies. The most notable cases are Correo Argentino and the former news agency Télam (where the cut exceeded 80% of the staff).

- US Support and Fresh Dollars: In the run-up to the elections, the government secured a promise of financial aid from the US, which materialized in the purchase of Argentine pesos and a currency exchange worth $20 billion. Although these funds do not go directly to social spending, their effectiveness is essentially political and financial, as they seek to stabilize the exchange rate and send a signal of support for Milei’s government to the markets and the IMF.

The 2025 Elections and the Truce-Betrayal Sustained by the Trade Unions

The elections of October 26, 2025, consolidated the ruling party’s parliamentary power. The ruling coalition and its allies (LLA + PRO) won in 15 provinces and obtained more than 40% of the votes nationwide, winning a significant number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (64 out of 127 up for grabs) and a significant number in the Senate (13 out of 24 up for grabs). This result is interpreted as a blank check to deepen structural reforms, including the dreaded labor reform (rejected by the CGT in the media) and privatizations, confirming that the bourgeoisie has managed to validate its austerity plan at the polls.

Meanwhile, the General Workers’ Confederation (CGT) and other unions have maintained their dual policy of “protest and negotiation,” avoiding calling a major general strike. Although they have declared their rejection of the labor reform, mobilizations have been sporadic, prioritizing conciliatory political dialogue with the government.

Labor unrest was concentrated in the private sector, with examples such as Acindar, Vicentin, and General Motors (GM), facing job losses and declining purchasing power.

A report released in the media reported a general decline in conflict involving strikes, but an increase in direct actions without strikes (mobilizations and occupations), which shows the existence of pockets of resistance to the conciliatory policy of the trade union federations. However, these direct actions, which are outside the control of the trade union federations, are isolated and lack centralized leadership.

The electoral victory of the governing coalition only confirms that in Argentina the workers’ movement remains trapped in the cycle of capitalist crisis – debt – austerity – political control of the unions by opportunistic factions. Once again, it has been confirmed that, despite its denunciations of government policies, the parliamentary left has shown itself to be a tacit accomplice to the austerity it supposedly rejects and has limited the workers’ struggle by promoting participation in parliamentary elections and everything provided for in bourgeois democracy from within the unions. The “left”, with influence in the unions and which opposes the leadership of the trade union federations, has ended up being an opposition ‘controlled’ by the bourgeoisie, insofar as, even with its proclamation of “socialism,” it only offers workers the false bourgeois democratic solution.

The working class faces a more complex scenario, with the government strengthened by votes and support from the US and with treacherous trade union federations. Facing this situation requires more than ever:
     - The urgent construction of a United Class Trade Union Front, with broad participation from the working class, which promotes a break with the truce-betrayal of the trade union federations.
     - The convergence of grassroots struggles, outside the control of the trade union federations, orienting the unity of action towards an indefinite general strike that paralyzes the country and is a tool of direct confrontation to defeat the bourgeois austerity plan.
     - Total distancing from parliamentary illusions, focusing the struggle on defeating the bourgeois plan and the non-negotiable defense of wages.
     - Resurgence of true class unions that mobilize and unite workers for their demands, without conciliation with the bosses.