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10 June, 2026The National Labour Appeals Court of the Argentine Republic has ordered a judicial intervention in the UOM metalworkers' union. IndustriALL Global Union expresses its deep concern and its total condemnation of this decision.
Víctor Pesino and María Dora González, the same labour court judges who endorsed the labour reform introduced by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, issued a ruling against IndustriALL affiliate UOM on 22 May. The judges declared the election held at the Zárate-Campana branch to be invalid, annulled the national re-election of the general secretary, Abel Furlán, and ordered a 180-day period of intervention.
“This judicial intervention did not happen overnight. It is the culmination of a political, judicial and corporate operation that we have been denouncing for months and that has always had a sole objective: to bring the UOM to heel, weaken our ability to fight for our rights, ensure that employers are able to pay starvation wages and that workers are unable to organize,”
UOM said in an official statement.
The court ruling came as UOM was engaged in collective bargaining with the sector’s main employers to defend metalworkers’ wages. Workers have suffered two years of falling pay.
UOM has vowed to fight back against this attack and will defeat
“this attempt at political intervention disguised as a court ruling. (…) We will respond with trade union democracy, participation, organization and struggle. We will overturn this intervention just as the Argentine labour movement has overturned every historical attempt to subjugate it.”
On 26 May, UOM’s executive board rejected the intervention. The union has launched a process to restore statutory compliance and declared a state of alert and mobilization. In line with its statutes, the union appointed officials to ensure normal operations pending full normalization.
On 26 May, unions, including IndustriALL affiliates, staged a “hug-in” in front of UOM headquarters. The action was a direct protest against the court ruling that removed Furlán and placed the union under judicial intervention.
In a letter to Furlán, IndustriALL’s general secretary Atle Høie expressed his solidarity with Argentina’s workers. It condemned the court’s decision and urged authorities to ensure full respect for union freedom and to comply with international conventions.
“This decision constitutes serious interference in trade union autonomy and sets a dangerous precedent for trade union freedom and democracy in Argentina.
“IndustriALL notes with concern that the use of legal proceedings to oust legitimately elected trade union leaders constitutes a way of cracking down on organizations that defend wages, collective bargaining, domestic production and labour rights. We express our full solidarity with Argentina’s metalworkers, with our colleague Abel Furlán, and with the legitimately elected leadership of the UOMRA.”