Recuperated Factories in Argentina

Unemployed workers in Argentina began taking over their workplaces before, and especially after, the country's economic collapse in December 2001. Under the banner of “Occupy, Resist, Produce,” workers organized among themselves and began producing goods and offering services without bosses. In response to accusations that their methods amounted to theft by those who sought to protect private property, workers claimed they were not stealing but expropriating their place of work from the owners.

The recuperation of factories in Argentina was a direct result of the country's neoliberal economic policies with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During the military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983, Argentina developed a large debt, which the IMF helped resolve. During the 1990s, however, public resources such as water, electricity, and retirement funds were sold to private companies. This pattern of privatization led to high profits for corporations and eliminated jobs and lowered workers' incomes. Equating the peso with the dollar for most of the 1990s, Argentina's middle class expanded and enjoyed pleasures derived from a globalized market. This ended when Argentina defaulted on its loan to the IMF and the peso's value plummeted in the last months of 2001. In response, banks froze or bankrupted banking accounts. On December 19, 2001, the economy collapsed. In the first 10 days of this crisis, Argentina witnessed the election and dismissal of four presidents.

Before December 2001, there were signs that the economy was dissolving. Employees were the first to feel its dissolution. In certain industries, relations between workers and their bosses were strained due to declining wages and inconsistent paychecks. Workers at Grissinopoli, a breadstick factory, had to endure declining wages for almost a year. Eventually their weekly salary amounted to 18 U.S. dollars. Since jobs simply evaporated after the economic collapse, workers in some instances did not have any choice other than to protect their only way to make money, their place of work: They occupied their place of work, resisted expulsion, and produced goods.

The recuperation of workplaces includes a wide field of businesses. Workers took over traditional factories, such as the IMPA metal factory and Forja parts factory, as well as other kinds of companies. These included the Grissinopoli breadstick factory, Ghelco confectory, Chilavert printshop, and Hotel Bauen, to name just a few of the more than 200 companies and more than 10,000 people who have recuperated their workplaces. The recuperation movement passed by a large area of the country, showing that some urban and rural zones did not favor the movement.

Although no two processes of recuperation followed the same path, the reasons were similar: to take back a place of work. Zanon, a ceramic tile factory, offers a typical example of how neoliberal economic policies wrecked factories. Before the collapse, the owner of Zanon accumulated a debt of 170 million U.S. dollars. Unable to make a profit, he closed the factory and fired the workers. When the workers occupied the factory, they did so under threat by the state to remove them by force. Eventually workers began producing tiles and making a profit. The efforts of Zanon's workers, like most workers who recuperated their places of work, were supported by local businesses and the community.

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