In rejection of the recent decrees 333/2025 and 334/2025 of the national government , the Unified Union of Fuegian Education Workers (SUTEF), headed by its general secretary, Horacio Catena, expressed its opposition to the measures that represent a step forward in the strategy of destroying the local productive framework and federalism in Argentina.
The decrees, published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday and signed by Javier Milei, Guillermo Francos, and Luis Caputo, establish, among other measures, the elimination of tariffs on electronic products and a simplified regime for sales from Tierra del Fuego to the rest of the country. These measures were described as " a mockery disguised as compensation " and a direct attack on the province's economic and labor sovereignty .
From SUTEF , Catena was blunt. In a formal communication, he explained that “ Decrees 333/25 and 334/25 are not isolated or technical measures. They are part of a deeply regressive national project that seeks to destroy long-awaited rights, subject the provinces to the logic of the market, and turn the State into a spectator of the plunder .”
Regarding the decree eliminating tariffs, the union leader warned: " It's a death sentence for Tierra del Fuego industry. It's not efficiency or competition: it's unbridled openness, dumping, and lack of protection. Who can sustain jobs on the island by competing with Asian factories without labor or environmental regulations ?"
For the union, the policy seeks to lower wages and reduce industrial employment , all with the aim of turning the region into a mere passive consumer, without technological sovereignty or added value .
Meanwhile, the decree regulating sales from Tierra del Fuego , considered by the organization as " a crumb to justify the adjustment ," limits purchases to only three units per person per year and a cap of USD 3,000 , as long as it is for personal use.
“ That doesn’t sustain factories, it doesn’t guarantee employment, it doesn’t build a future,” Catena said, adding that “it’s political marketing to cover up a productive dismantling .”
The union's general secretary was emphatic in denouncing that these measures " violate federalism, disregard the people of Tierra del Fuego, and humiliate the provinces."
SUTEF asserts that defending Law 19,640 "is not a privilege; it's a strategic tool to guarantee national roots, production, and presence in the south."
Finally, the organization reaffirmed its commitment to the labor struggle. “ Our place is the same as always: in the streets, alongside the people. We will organize with industrial workers, with the unemployed, with the young people who want a future in their province ,” they promised.
Catena concluded with a warning and a message: “ These decrees must be repealed. But beyond that, we need to build another model, where work, sovereignty, and rights are not commodities, but banners of dignity .”
