Throughout history, Argentina has undergone a series of profound economic variations, which, as such, have produced a strong impact on labor legislation and social security. The access key in Argentina to labour law protection is the existence of a relationship of dependence. This turns to be an inclusive and exclusive condition because it divides strictly the labour market and the labour force inherent in two different areas, namely, the subordinate workers (who are included in the labour protection system) and the rest of the employees, including among the latest, the ones involved in non-typical forms of employment contracts. For such purposes, it is important to analyze different periods of time, selecting the more significant ones to see the evolution of Argentinean labour legislation. It is also relevant to describe the consequences caused by economic and political variations on collective bargaining in order to understand the composition of the actual labour force in Argentina.
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Throughout history, the Argentine Republic has undergone a series of profound economic variations which, as such, have produced a strong impact on labour legislation and social security.
As the mechanisms for labour flexibilization become stronger, the work force diversifies in such way that more sectors become excluded from the granted protection provided by the hard core of the public labour policy.
During the 90s, there appeared new types of contracts which allowed the employer to receive the professional services from a worker but securing a reduction of cost during these period and / or securing a mechanism for ending the labour relationship without undergoing high indemnification costs.
During the last years, it can be observed, a new paradigm to create more freedoms to hire; and its counterpart, the decrease in protective labour legislation as a rigid core.
It is herein intended to show the economic and political analysis of the facts (highlighting that it exceeds these document the full development of themselves, there are going to be taken as examples those who have a strong relevance in the subject herein discussed) that gave place to the regulatory management attached to the labour law and the social security from the Argentine Republic and its modifications.
For such purposes it is worth mentioning different periods, from which it has to be highlighted: 1) what occurred in 1976, with the military governments, the liberal treatment on the economy from the country and the suppression of trade unions and its main outcome, the signing and validity of collective labour agreement; 2) the 90s and the arrival of new neoliberal criteria to the country with the introduction of new para-labour hiring conditions, such as the modifications connected to the social security system, tending to a privatization of companies and state services and 3) the modification of the criteria of interpretation of the National Supreme Court of Justice in relation to employment and its rights.
Also, it is worth mentioning that in accordance with the economic and political period, there has been in the Argentine Republic a development of the social actors involved who achieved to have a permanent collective negotiation.
Unions have acquired a high level of importance in Argentine working relationship system due to the signing of collective labour agreements. Its treatment, creation, development and content, as the necessity for approval from the state authority, have special relationship with the content of individual relationships and also with the individual labour agreement. This is why, the great impact caused by economic and political variations on this heteronomous law from the country cannot escape this chapter.
The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze these aspects, from the individual labour law up to the collective labour relationships, in order to be able to understand the way in which economic variations have had an impact in the creation of Labour Legislation in Argentina.