CALL/ACAMS expresses support for Zanon workers in Argentina

The workers in the Zanon ceramic factory in Argentina were faced with a challenge which is familiar to so many workers these days. Their factory was closing down. They were about to lose their jobs. They took matters into their own hands, occupied the factory and began running it as a co-operative. Their heroic struggle was the subject of a recent film, "The Take".

But recently, the workers have come under increasing attack, with death threats now a part of their daily experience. The wife of one worker was kidnapped and had her face and chest slashed. And now the courts are considering ways to take the factory (and the jobs) away from the workers.

Please send your message of protest and solidarity today. Go here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=49

Derek Blackadder
LabourStart Canada

To President Nestor Kirchner, Governor Jorge Sobisch and Judge Barreiro:

I am writing on behalf of the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers/Association canadienne des avocats du movement syndical (CALL/ACAMS) to express our unwavering support of the workers of Zanon and their cause, particularly in light of the recent horrifying incidents in the province of Neuquen. These incidents include death threats to workers and union leaders and their relatives, as well as the kidnapping and torture of the wife of one of the workers, and subsequent savage beatings.

Labour activists, union members and affiliated organizations around the world are paying attention to these violations of human rights in Argentina.

These workers themselves saved their factory from collapse and put it back to work, yet now their lives and livelihoods are under siege. Faced with abandonment by the owner, Luis Zanon, and the provincial and national governments, the workers decided to take their future into their own hands. They have transformed the factory into a functioning enterprise in a way that no multinational has done. They have created genuine employment, increased production and efficiency, reinvested in the factory, reduced the number of workplace accidents, and they have collaborated in solidarity with the community to carry out numerous projects, in many cases fulfilling functions that were government responsibilities.

Despite these incredibly positive steps, the courts have opened the door to an eviction of the workers, to massive layoffs and to the stripping of assets by speculative investors. Worse, the workers have become victims of mafia actions that recall the worst of the military dictatorship.

We, the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers/Association canadienne des avocats du movement syndical call on President Kirchner, Governor Sobisch and Judge Barreiro to:

- recognize the FaSinPat cooperative and definitively expropriate the factory, granting total control to the workers;

- refuse to burden the workers with the significant debt left by the owner despite his having received enormous government subsidies;

- investigate and prosecute the criminal incidents of the past weeks.

Yours truly,
Susan Philpott, President, CALL/ACAMS