Buenos Aires, May 4 (RHC)-- Argentinean President Mauricio Macri, in an effort to thwart an anti-layoff bill in the Congress, is trying to allay fears of more layoffs in the future. 

During a news conference in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, Macri attacked an anti-layoff bill passed by the Senate being debated in the lower house.  Macri said he will veto the proposal if Congress approves it because he is "certain" that it is "bad for Argentineans."

The bill seeks to ban dismissals in both the public and private sectors until December 2017 and it would be retroactive from March 1, 2016, so all workers who have been fired since that date would be reinstated.

The head of state made no reference to the protests of thousands of Argentineans against his government and claimed that dismissals in the country only come about if the people are not fulfilling their functions.

In the first four months of the Macri administration, there were about 140,000 workers laid off and the poor in the country increased by 5.5 percent, representing 1.4 million new poor in the South American nation.