Argentina: 15,000 civil servants fired this week

The spokesman of the Presidency, Manuel Adorni, gave this clarification after the commotion caused the previous day by Milei, who hinted to businessmen that the state was preparing to fire 70,000 civil servants before the end of the month.

“There has been a confusion: the total number of contracts under review exceeds 70,000. Of this number, which is not final, 15,000 will cease to operate on March 31,” the spokesman said, adding that the remaining contracts would only be extended for six months. before the state makes a decision.

Adorni stressed that this mass termination of public sector employment contracts comes alongside 50,000 other redundancies that have hit public sector workers in recent weeks.

The spokesperson explained that the audit work of the employees in the administration will take longer than expected, adding that the goal of this approach is to clean up the public service.

The reaction of the state labor union (ATE according to the Spanish acronym) did not take long. Its leaders announced a general strike and threatened to occupy ministries in protest against these mass layoffs.

In addition to the reduction of state structures, the Government has decided to suspend all employment in the civil service and stop work on infrastructure in order to achieve its primary goal: a zero budget deficit starting this year.