Labour Legislation
Though Argentina is a Federal State, under the country's Constitution the National Legislative (i.e. the House of Deputies and the Senate) is competent to adopt labour legislation with national coverage.The first labour legislation in Argentina was first adopted in the early decades of the XX th century. Like many other Latin American countries, the first areas to be regulated, even before 1910, were weekly rest, and work by women and minors. In 1915 a Law was adopted, on industrial accidents and occupational diseases. Further legislation addressed issues such as hours of work (1929), and termination of employment (1934). Paid leave and trade union organization were regulated in the forties, by the then Secretary of Labour, Colonel Perón, and collective bargaining was regulated in the fifties.

Law on Contract of Employment

• As the labour legislation became more sophisticated, and as it was being further enriched by collective agreements and judicial decisions, it became indispensable to have a consolidated text. This was done in 1974, and took the form of a Law on Contract of Employment (Ley de Contrato de Trabajo, LCT), which underwent a major revision in 1976. The LCT was further amended on several occasions. The most far-reaching amendments where those of 1991, which gave a legal framework to many atypical contracts of employment, 1995, 1998 and 2000.
• The LCT is a very detailed regulation (around 300 sections); it deals with the following subjects: contract of employment, rights and obligations of employers and employees, special contracts of employment (such as part-time, fixed-term contracts, seasonal employment), remuneration and protection of wages, hours of work, public holidays and paid leave, maternity protection, minimum age and protection of young workers, suspension and termination of the contract of employment, transfer of enterprises.

Laws on Collective Labour Relations

• Separate regulations address respectively trade unions, collective bargaining, settlement of collective labour disputes and strikes. Whereas trade unions were formed in Argentina as early as the XIX th Century, no specific regulation was adopted in this field until 1945, when Decree no. 23852 was issued. This Decree organized trade unions under an industry-wide and single-union structure. At the union higher level structure, only one Workers' Confederation was recognized, namely the General Confederation of Workers, CGT, the industry-based and single-union structure remains the prevailing pattern in the country. 
• Collective bargaining was initially regulated by law 14250 in 1954, which underwent further reforms. A consolidated text was adopted in 1988; a further amendment was enacted in 2000. Collective Labour Disputes are regulated by various texts, the most noteworthy of which is Law 14786, on conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes, adopted in 1958 (Ley 14786 de conciliacion obligatoria.doc.)
• The right to strike is guaranteed under the constitution, and it is normally granted in all activities, it being understood that a minimum service must be guaranteed where a strike affects an essential service. In 2000 a law was repealed, which permitted the public authority to submit a labour conflict to compulsory arbitration (as a matter of fact this law had very rarely been invoked).

Other sources of labour regulation

• Under the Constitution, the Government is empowered to issue instructions and rules necessary for the enforcement of the laws of the nation, without altering their spirit with regulatory exceptions. Only in exceptional circumstances can the President issue decrees on grounds of necessity and urgency, provided such is decided by a general agreement of ministers who shall countersign them together with the Chief of the Ministerial Cabinet.
• Collective agreements may also play an important role in labour regulation, particularly because they are legally binding, and usually cover very a wide range of industries or branches of industries. As a matter of fact, most workers are covered by a collective agreement. However, their actual impact varies widely from one industry to another, and in most cases apart from fixing wages they are not a meaningful source of labour regulation.
• Case law plays a certain role, however limited, in actual labour regulation, to the extent that leading judicial decisions may clarify the actual bearing of labour law provisions. According to the country's legal system, legal interpretation as laid down through decisions by superior tribunals is mandatory on lower tribunals with respect to similar cases. Furthermore it should be noted that the Supreme Court is empowered to dismiss the application of any legal rule which it considers not compatible with the Constitution.

Contract of Employment

• As a general rule the contract of employment is understood to be concluded for an unlimited period of time. Fixed-term contracts of employment are, however, permitted, provided they are in writing, and they cannot be concluded for more than five years. It is also possible to conclude a contract for casual work to meet exceptional and temporary requirements, whose duration cannot be foreseen at the time of concluding the contract. Also, it is permitted to conclude contracts of employment under modalities such as part-time work and apprenticeship.
• The first three months of a contract of employment are considered a probation period, during which the contract may be terminated at any time by either party, provided the contract has been duly registered with the competent authority in charge of labour. Collective agreements may, however, extend probation up to six months. In small enterprises (i.e. enterprises that employ 40 workers or less, and whose billing does not exceed a prescribed ceiling) the probation period is six months, and it can be further extended by collective agreement up to twelve months in respect of skilled workers.

Suspension of the contract of employment

• The contract of employment can be suspended on various grounds, such as the employee's sickness, or maternity, holding of public office or of trade union office, and military service. Other grounds for suspension are lack of work because of a downturn in demand, and disciplinary reasons, in which cases the suspension cannot be for more than thirty days within a twelve month period.

Hours of work

• The legal working time is eight hours per day and forty-eight hours per week. However, the regular working week does not exceed 44 hours for daily work, 42 hours for night work, and 36 hours where work is performed in hazardous or unhealthy environments. This is because work is normally not permitted on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Nonetheless, the competent authority may authorize exceptions to this rule, and in practice it does.
• Overtime rate is 50 per cent, for work performed from Monday, until 1 pm on Saturdays, and 100 per cent for work performed thereafter, and on public holidays.