Just over a month after taking office in Argentina, right-wing President Javier Milei on Wednesday faced a general strike in rejection of his decree targeting unions as well as his economic and labor reform proposals.

Argentina’s largest labor union, known by its acronym CGT, organized the strike and was joined by other unions. They were taking to the streets in the capital, Buenos Aires, and other cities across the country, also joined by social organizations and political opponents, including members of the Peronist party that has dominated national politics for decades.

Until his presidential run, Milei was known mostly for his televised screeds against the political caste, and he secured victory last year with a wide margin. A self-described libertarian, he pledged a drastic reduction in state spending aimed at shoring up a wide fiscal deficit that he says is fueling red-hot inflation, which finished 2023 at 211%.

On Dec. 20, Milei issued a decree that would revoke or modify more than 300 existing laws to limit the power of unions and deregulate an economy featuring notoriously heavy state intervention. He also sent a so-called omnibus bill to Congress to enact sweeping reforms in the political, social, fiscal, legal, administrative and security fields.