Milei takes on Argentina's unions, drawing protests as senators debate his labor overhaul

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Thousands of workers mobilized by powerful trade unions converged outside Argentina’s Congress on Wednesday, blocking traffic and clashing with police as senators debated an overhaul of labor laws that is considered crucial to libertarian President Javier Milei’s shock therapy program.

Security forces struggled to control the crowds in a central square of downtown Buenos Aires, firing water cannons and rubber bullets. Protesters lobbed petrol bombs, stones and water bottles. Authorities said they made at least 15 arrests, among them protesters accused of attacking police officers.

The fiery standoff underscored the sensitivity of labor rights in this nation dominated since the 1940s by Peronism, a populist movement that has swung right and left ideologically but has always claimed to champion workers' rights.

Supporters of Milei's proposed labor law changes say high severance payouts and taxes makes it almost impossible to fire employees, constraining productivity and discouraging business from formal employment. Almost half of Argentines work off the books. Private sector job growth has remained stagnant for 14 years.

“With the modernization of the labor system, more people will have access to formal, legal employment,” Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party said in a statement as the debate kicked off. “We are rebuilding Argentina from the ground up, starting with employment.”

The bill is bitterly opposed by labor unions and their Peronist allies in Congress, who argue the bill would roll back important measures to protect workers from abuse and the nation’s notoriously frequent economic shocks.

“If severance pay, overtime and vacation time — in other words, all the protections workers have gained over time — are up for grabs, it won’t make things better for anyone,” said Axel Kicillof, the governor of Buenos Aires province and the most powerful elected official in the Peronist opposition.

Successive governments, as well as a military dictatorship, have promised to overhaul Argentina’s labor legislation and have failed.

“This is the most important reform in the last 50 years,” said Sen. Patricia Bullrich, leader of the La Libertad Avanza bloc in Congress. “No government has achieved it, and I believe we will.”

One far-reaching reform came tantalizingly close in 1984 only to collapse in the Senate by a single vote. Another cleared the Peronist-dominated Congress in 2000, only to be discredited by a vote-buying scandal and promptly overturned. Yet another attempt in 2017 didn’t even make it to a vote due to union pushback.

Milei himself used an executive order to muscle through an overhaul after entering office in 2023, only for it to get tied up in court after unions filed for injunctions.

But after clinching a big midterm victory last year, with help from his ally U.S. President Donald Trump, Milei has a fresh mandate to enact reforms that for decades businesses have desired and international financial institutions have demanded.

The bill under discussion would curb the right to strike, extend trial periods during which companies can fire unproductive new employees, defang national trade unions by allowing collective bargaining at company level and unwind a byzantine system of severance payments by narrowing grounds for wrongful dismissal.

Experts said that even if the government is forced to make concessions in Congress, the passage of anything called a “labor reform” would be a huge achievement in Argentina, where many current legal clauses have remained unchanged since the mid-1970s.

“I’m skeptical about whether it’s going to induce a massive formalization of workers in the labor market. That’s why I think the importance is much more political, symbolic,” said Ignacio Labaqui, a Buenos Aires-based senior analyst at risk consultancy Medley Global Advisors. “For Peronism, it would definitely be a huge defeat.”

Milei and his officials lashed out at left-wing opponents Wednesday as scuffles between protesters and police left the streets outside Congress littered with shards of glass, smoldering garbage and the remnants of rubber bullets.

“The stale old union establishment is calling to ‘set the country on fire’ because they don’t like labor modernization,” government spokesperson Javier Lanari wrote on X. “They choose to protect their sectoral privileges at the expense of harming Argentines.”

Despite the show of force, some doubted that Argentina’s old-school trade unions would put up much more of a fight.

With their Peronist backers weakened in Congress and reputation long sullied by allegations of corruption and cronyism, the trade federations are not the force they once were. Mass protests petered out in the last year as both Milei and union bosses shied away from frontal assaults in favor of negotiations.

As a result, experts say the government has watered down some initial proposals that threatened to bankrupt the unions, for instance by requiring employees to opt in to membership, rather than having members’ dues taken automatically, as is now the case.

“The unions need to protest today to reinforce their base and show them that they're fighting, but the true negotiations happened behind closed doors, and they have been very successful,” said Ana Iparraguirre, an Argentine political analyst and partner at Washington-based strategy firm GBAO. “They were smart enough to negotiate to preserve the things that were important to them.”

The heated debate in the Senate was expected to stretch into the early-morning hours Thursday. If approved, the bill goes to the lower house of Congress next month.

Associated Press writers Clara Preve and Débora Rey contributed to this report.

A police water cannon sprays a fire sparked by a Molotov cocktail during clashes at a march by trade unions and opposition groups against a labor reform bill proposed by President Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

Protesters shield themselves with wooden boards as police spray water during clashes at a march by trade unions and opposition groups against a labor reform bill proposed by President Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Police detain a protester during a march by trade unions and opposition groups protesting a labor reform bill proposed by President Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)

People take cover as police and protesters clash during a march by trade unions and opposition groups against a labor reform bill proposed by President Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A Molotov cocktail bursts into flames in front of police during a march by unions and opposition supporters against a labor reform bill proposed by President Javier Milei's government in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luka Doncic will miss the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers' regular season with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring, the team announced Friday.

Doncic is the NBA's top scorer and the driving force behind the Lakers' surge into the third spot in the Western Conference standings, but he injured his leg during Los Angeles' blowout loss in Oklahoma City on Thursday. An MRI exam revealed the severity of the strain.

The Pacific Division champion Lakers (50-27) have just five games left before the postseason, starting Sunday at Dallas.

Grade 2 hamstring strains sometimes require several weeks of recovery, but Doncic also has prior experience with hamstring issues. He missed four games right before the All-Star break with another left hamstring strain, but returned to the lineup after the break.

Doncic is putting up spectacular numbers in his first full season with the Lakers, who acquired the Slovenian superstar from the Mavericks last season. He is averaging 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game for Los Angeles, and he was named the NBA's Western Conference player of the month for March after racking up 13 consecutive 30-point performances, including seven 40-point games, a 51-point barrage against Chicago and a 60-point masterclass in Miami.

Doncic scored a whopping 600 points in March, becoming only the 10th player in NBA history to hit that mark in one month. While LeBron James and Austin Reaves have also played well down the stretch, the Lakers thoroughly depend on Doncic, who either scored or assisted on 58% of the their total points in March.

Doncic is all but certain to win his second NBA scoring title — but he has played in only 64 games this season, which means he will finish one game shy of the 65-game threshold to be eligible for the NBA's biggest postseason awards.

He was a lock to be an All-NBA selection, and he had even been making a late run at consideration for the MVP award with his outstanding play down the stretch.

Along with his two absences caused by hamstring injuries and a handful of additional absences for minor medical maintenance early in the season, Doncic missed two games last December while flying to Slovenia for the birth of his second child. He also missed one game last week under suspension for accumulating 16 technical fouls.

Since he sits just shy of the 65-game threshold, Doncic theoretically could challenge the rule by citing the extraordinary circumstances of his daughter's birth in Europe through the grievance process created for these collectively bargained rules. It's wholly unclear whether that appeal would have any chance of success.

If Doncic wins the scoring title but doesn't make the All-NBA teams, he would be only the third scoring champ in league history to fail to do so. Elvin Hayes wasn't selected when he won the crown as a rookie in 1969, and Bob McAdoo wasn't chosen for the teams in 1976.

Lakers coach JJ Redick said Doncic was injured in the first half against the Thunder, but was cleared to return to the game while his team was getting plastered by the defending NBA champion Thunder. Doncic lasted only about four minutes before he spun, stopped and went down on the court in pain, leading to his departure.

The loss was only the Lakers' third in 19 games since Feb. 26, but Doncic's absence casts a cloud of uncertainty over the rest of their year. Los Angeles only leads fourth-place Denver (49-28) by one game, while sixth-place Minnesota (46-30) is 3 1/2 games back with a game in hand.

The Lakers’ regular-season finale is next Sunday, April 12, at home against Utah. Their first-round playoff series is expected to start the following weekend.

AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

Los Angeles Lakers forward/guard Luka Dončić (77) drives against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, April. 2, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) gestures after a three-point basket against the Indiana Pacers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) is fouled by Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) as Magic forward Tristan da Silva, right, helps defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)