Overview
- The Sala VIII of the National Appeals Chamber for Labour declared the Campana sectional votes and the UOM national election null and ordered the immediate removal of Secretary General Abel Furlán in a ruling issued on Friday, May 22, 2026.
- Judges Víctor Arturo Pesino and María Dora González based the decision on procedural failures in Campana, saying urns were kept under the sectional electoral board’s exclusive control over three days without daily provisional counts and that opposing proxies were improperly asked to sleep in the union hall to guard ballots.
- The court explained that nullifying Campana’s seccional vote invalidated the Colegio Electoral that elected the national leadership, so the defect at the local level vitiated the March 18 national result.
- The tribunal named lawyer Alberto Biglieri as interventor with full administrative powers, ordered him to call new elections within 180 days and to file periodic reports to the court while the UOM remains under judicial administration.
- The ruling drew sharp denunciations from the UOM leadership, the PJ and allied unions who called protests and vowed appeals, and it raises near-term risks for collective bargaining for metalworkers and for how Argentine courts oversee internal union disputes.