FaSinPat workers protest in Congress (photo courtesy of FaSinPat)
Workers from the emblematic Neuquén ceramics factory FaSinPat (‘Fábrica Sin Patrones’ or ‘Factory Without Bosses’) marched yesterday in Buenos Aires demanding the approval of a loan for technological renewal promised by the national government.
The cooperative workers marched from Congress to the Economy Ministry building in downtown Buenos Aires. In a press release issued days before the protest, they explained that “all the ceramics industries have renewed their technology in the last few years with funding from the national and provincial states.” However, FaSinPat applied to the same loans that were given to other companies in 2013 but has so far been unable to obtain the funds.
“We were put under the Bicentenary credits programme [in 2013],” said the statement, which “had given over $11bn to 500 companies, many of them branches of foreign monopolies such as Toyota, Carraro, or Metalpar.” Despite filing all the paperwork that was required, they were told by national authorities in January this year that they would not get the loan. After more negotiations, former Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich publicly announced the cooperative would be granted a loan under the Fondear programme (continuation of Bicentenary) for technological renewal for $32m payable in March and April, a commitment that was confirmed by Economy Minister Axel Kicillof in Neuquén on 31st March. They never received the money, and on 8th April the workers were called to the Economy Ministry and were told they would not receive the loan after all.
The workers have stated that “we don’t want anything for free. We’re only demanding the national state what we understand is fair to be able to continue on with production and jobs: a loan for the purchase of machinery and partial technological renewal of the factory.”
Talking to FM La Tribu yesterday, Natalio Navarrete, Undersecretary of FaSinPat, explained that the current situation means “productivity is at risk, we have low productivity, we’re four fortnights late [with wages].”
FaSinPat is an icon in the struggle of recuperated factories in Argentina. Abandoned by its owners in 2001, the 250 workers of ceramics factory Zanón took over production at the height of the social and economic crisis. After years of struggle, the factory was finally expropriated in 2009 and the transfer to the workers’ cooperative was finalised in 2012. Today, it is a source of income for 450 families.
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