MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei sacks official responsible for outrageous pay hike

Yasín (right) learned about his dismissal from Milei's statement during a TV interview

Argentine President Javier Milei Monday sacked Labor Secretary Omar Yasín following the scandal whereby a 48% pay hike decreed for Casa Rosada staffers ended up impacting the salaries of the head of state and all cabinet members. “He made a mistake he should not have made,” Milei argued about the lawyer stemming from the ranks of former President Mauricio Macri's PRO.

“I have fired him for this mistake, a mistake he should not have made,” Milei explained after his measure was affected by a decree signed by then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) in the early 2010s which provided that politically-appointed hierarchs should not earn less than the people under them.

“In January we gave the order not to increase salaries of hierarchical personnel,” the President stressed while underlining that such an adjustment never targeted “the political positions.”

Milei said that he sent a decree going back on that increase for hierarchical positions and the amounts already paid would be deducted from next month's wages.

The President came under heavy criticism for this “accounting error,” particularly from CFK. “She is very worried about the retirees, I told her to resign to her privileged retirement since she is so worried. She should go for the minimum, she did cheap psychology,” Milei argued. “Since I saw you so worried about pensions, what do you think if I cancel the $14,000,000 that you receive as a privileged retirement and assign you a minimum retirement? I don't think you will complain,” the President went on.

Decree 235/2024 repealing Decree 206 stated that “Since the inauguration of the current National Government, different measures have been taken to order and balance the public accounts, to make spending transparent and to achieve an efficient and effective allocation of the scarce available resources.”

“Given this very serious situation, there is no other possible alternative but to adjust the accounts and public finances, especially of those who have assumed higher political responsibilities,” it went on.

“The prevailing reality makes it necessary to modify this criterion or methodology for fixing the remuneration of the Senior Authorities, at a time of crisis such as the present one, in which the Argentine society is making a heroic effort, politicians must be the first ones to set an example,” Milei's latest measure elaborated.

Yasín learned about his dismissal from Milei's statement during a TV interview. Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni explained that in Yasín's case “there were differences of criteria and this was just another mistake.”

“The secretary is one more collaborator of the president in whom he places his trust,” Adorni also argued. “When trust in an official ends, it is logical for the president to let him go,” he added.

Regarding Legal and Technical Secretary Javier Herrera Bravo, Adorni noted that “he is the one who makes the legal and technical validations, which were indeed correct. Evidently, the Secretary of Labor did not pay enough attention to the President regarding his order not to apply the raise to high-ranking cabinet officials.”

A replacement for Yasín is to be announced shortly, according to Casa Rosada sources.