Milei announces plan to fire 70,000 employees in Argentina; 15 thousand will be cut this month

The Argentine president Javier Milei stated at the end of this Tuesday, 26th, that he intends to dismiss 70 thousand public servants from Argentina. This Wednesday, its spokesman, Manuel Adorni, confirmed that 15 thousand will be cut on the 31st and that the rest of the layoffs are under discussion.

According to the spokesperson, the government chose not to renew part of the server contracts that expire at the end of this month. The others will be renewed for another six months, and a new audit will be carried out at the end of this period to analyze new dismissals.

The dismissals continue Milei’s plan to reduce Argentina’s public sector and achieve fiscal balance this year. The plan, which was the Argentine’s main political platform during last year’s presidential elections, includes measures such as halting public works, cutting funding to provinces and ending 200,000 social security plans, implemented in just over 100 days. of government.

These measures were highlighted by the Argentine president during a business event this Tuesday. At the end of his speech, he guaranteed that there would be more “chainsaws”, as his spending reduction policy became known, in the coming months.

In a more cautious tone this Wednesday, Milei’s spokesperson stated that the cuts will be “slower than we would like” because of the complexity of the state machine. “These are sensitive issues because behind them there are places of work and service to people,” he said. “The objective is to reach the appropriate level. If it is 70 thousand, let it be 70 thousand, if it is 15 thousand, let it be 15 thousand. We need to be extremely surgical in our work so as not to make mistakes,” he added.

Adorni also stated that the layoffs do not include employees of public companies or social programs. “(The government) does not want to do any harm, on the contrary: so that the public sector can be streamlined and that people do not pay salaries that do not correspond,” he said.

Milei said on more than one occasion that the government had laid off 50,000 employees, but authorities confirm that the cuts were between 5 and 7,000 in December, in the Argentine’s first month in office. The measures face opposition from the country’s workers unions, who even organized a general strike in January. A new mobilization was called by the State Workers’ Association (ATE) after the government’s new statements.

In the first 100 days, Milei’s austerity measures broke a 10-year sequence of public deficits and obtained two consecutive surpluses in public accounts, but, in return, they increased the country’s poverty and caused the Executive to enter into collision with the provinces.