Milei takes his chainsaw to the state, cutting 15,000 jobs

BUENOS AIRES

Argentina has said that it had cut 15,000 state jobs as part of President Javier Milei's aggressive campaign to slash spending, the latest in a series of painful economic measures that have put the libertarian government on a collision course with angry protesters and powerful trade unions.

Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced the job cuts in a news conference, portraying them as key to Milei’s promised shake-up of Argentina’s bloated public sector.

“It’s part of the work we are doing to reduce state expenses,” he told reporters, describing the dismissed workers as a drag on taxpayers.

“They perhaps did not have a very defined job," he said.

Hundreds of defiant employees — some notified of their termination last week and others before that — stormed their workplaces in Buenos Aires and nearby cities on March 3, beating drums, decrying their dismissal as unjust and demanding their reinstatement.

Milei campaigned for president while brandishing a chainsaw — promising to fix Argentina’s long-troubled economy by chopping down the size of the state.

Determined to balance the country's budget, he has slashed energy and transportation subsidies, halted public works, cut payments to provincial governments and devalued the peso by over 50 percent to close the gap between the official exchange rate and the black market rate.

However, that has hiked inflation, making it even harder for struggling Argentines to make ends meet.

Argentina’s trade unions — among the sectors most hurt by Milei's overhaul — appeared undeterred. Union officials pledged a mass general strike. Fired workers vowed to keep showing up at their offices.

The confrontation, analysts warn, could derail Milei's dogged push to achieve a zero budget deficit by the year's end.