FT-CI

Argentina

Rank-and-file candidates win election in Coca-Cola plant in Buenos Aires

29/04/2013

Rank-and-file candidates win election in Coca-Cola plant in Buenos Aires

Thursday, 25 April 2013

On April 21 and 22, the election for the shop stewards committee at the Coca-Cola plant in Pompeya, Buenos Aires city, took place. The rank-and-file list, called Lista Marrón (Brown List) was backed by 43% of the workforce in a 93% turn out. The Lista Verde (Green List), backed by the union leadership, came second, and a split from the Green List came third. The plant has 609 workers and we spoke with two members of the newly elected shop stewards committee.

Oscar Zunzunegui explained how they won the election. “The Lista Marrón won because the election took place in a climate of discontent in the plant. On the one hand, salaries have not increased for a year, and inflation is making itself felt. On the other hand, the additional tax on salaries is reducing our take home pay. There are three more reasons for this result: firstly, our gains are being undermined while the bosses are cutting costs and are investing millions in front of our eyes. Secondly, the former shop stewards committee – aligned with the Union Sutiaga (under the control of CGT leader Hugo Moyano) – was divided and split into two lists. Workers had been demanding that the union call assemblies so they could discuss and participate, and for the union to listen to their demands and take into account their needs in the collective agreement negotiations. None of these things happened. This situation was generating discontent and anger among the rank and file. Thirdly, an agreement reached in the 1990s at a company level by which we are obliged to work on bank holidays and at a lower rate, was challenged by the workforce. I would say that all these factors contributed to workers voting for our list. Our list not only put forward a programme that defends workers’ rights but has also condemned the pro-management policies of the trade union leaders. Our list is known among workers for defending workers’ rights and for acting in a consistent fashion; as a result many workers trusted us and supported us as has been shown by the election results. We obtained 70 votes more than the bureaucracy and 100 votes more than the list that had split from the bureaucracy. The election shows that there is a need for change for the better and workers think that we represent that change.

Pablo Silvestri told us that the ‘Lista Marrón’ is a workers’ rank-and-file trade union current, which is anti-bureaucratic and opposed to the bosses, and has been organised inside the factory for six years now. It is composed of some militants of the PTS, but mainly of independent workers, with whom we come together to give an answer to the problems we are facing in our factory. The Lista Marrón was born out of the struggles inside our factory over recent years. Most of us played a role in the reorganisation of the plant; we have won control of the shop stewards committee and there has been an increase in trade union militancy. We are very proud of this historic battle. We were an active and combative opposition whilst the ‘official list’ was in power. During the last few years, the relatively good agreements negotiated by the trade union leaders contributed to the Lista Verde keeping control. Nevertheless, we had always managed to get around 200 votes, which was encouraging.

Our history has been linked to the defence of the most oppressed group of workers within the factory, i.e. those who are on temporary contracts or who are outsourced workers like the cleaners. One of our demands is for their incorporation into the permanent staff within the same agreement.

The candidates of the Lista Marrón that have just won the elections are activists in the Agrupación Marrón (Brown Current). At the beginning it was only few of us, but as time went by we managed to organise more brothers and sisters representing different shifts and sections in our factory. The truth is that neither the trade union leaders nor the former delegates had any answers to the problems of the workforce. Anger was mounting and we started to receive the support and sympathy of sections of workers who hadn’t voted for us previously. In a previous election we lost in one department by only three votes. In this election, without including the seven candidates who were elected, more than 30 brothers and sisters campaigned for the list inside the plant. The day of the election we were prepared for the possibility of election fraud. The increase in our vote constitutes a breakthrough by our current and, without doubt, opens up the possibility of winning more workers to our ranks.
By winning the shop stewards committee, whose mandate will start on Thursday, 2 May 2013, we set ourselves the task of putting in place a trade union rank-and-file organisation that defends and supports all our colleagues’ claims: to unite all sectors in our factory; to call assemblies so all workers can participate in the decisions; and to fulfil our mandate.

Translated by Alejandra Ríos

Related articles

No hay comentarios a esta nota

Newspaper

  • PTS (Argentina)

  • Actualidad Nacional

    MTS (México)

  • EDITORIAL

    LTS (Venezuela)

  • DOSSIER : Leur démocratie et la nôtre

    CCR NPA (Francia)

  • ContraCorriente Nro42 Suplemento Especial

    Clase contra Clase (Estado Español)

  • Movimento Operário

    MRT (Brasil)

  • LOR-CI (Bolivia) Bolivia Liga Obrera Revolucionaria - Cuarta Internacional Palabra Obrera Abril-Mayo Año 2014 

Ante la entrega de nuestros sindicatos al gobierno

1° de Mayo

Reagrupar y defender la independencia política de los trabajadores Abril-Mayo de 2014 Por derecha y por izquierda

La proimperialista Ley Minera del MAS en la picota

    LOR-CI (Bolivia)

  • PTR (Chile) chile Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios Clase contra Clase 

En las recientes elecciones presidenciales, Bachelet alcanzó el 47% de los votos, y Matthei el 25%: deberán pasar a segunda vuelta. La participación electoral fue de solo el 50%. La votación de Bachelet, representa apenas el 22% del total de votantes. 

¿Pero se podrá avanzar en las reformas (cosméticas) anunciadas en su programa? Y en caso de poder hacerlo, ¿serán tales como se esperan en “la calle”? Editorial El Gobierno, el Parlamento y la calle

    PTR (Chile)

  • RIO (Alemania) RIO (Alemania) Revolutionäre Internationalistische Organisation Klasse gegen Klasse 

Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

Die Europäische Union präsentiert sich als Vereinigung Europas. Doch diese imperialistische Allianz hilft dem deutschen Kapital, andere Teile Europas und der Welt zu unterwerfen. MarxistInnen kämpfen für die Vereinigten Sozialistischen Staaten von Europa! 

Widerstand im Spanischen Staat 

Am 15. Mai 2011 begannen Jugendliche im Spanischen Staat, öffentliche Plätze zu besetzen. Drei Jahre später, am 22. März 2014, demonstrierten Hunderttausende in Madrid. Was hat sich in diesen drei Jahren verändert? Editorial Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

    RIO (Alemania)

  • Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica) Costa Rica LRS En Clave Revolucionaria Noviembre Año 2013 N° 25 

Los cuatro años de gobierno de Laura Chinchilla han estado marcados por la retórica “nacionalista” en relación a Nicaragua: en la primera parte de su mandato prácticamente todo su “plan de gobierno” se centró en la “defensa” de la llamada Isla Calero, para posteriormente, en la etapa final de su administración, centrar su discurso en la “defensa” del conjunto de la provincia de Guanacaste que reclama el gobierno de Daniel Ortega como propia. Solo los abundantes escándalos de corrupción, relacionados con la Autopista San José-Caldera, los casos de ministros que no pagaban impuestos, así como el robo a mansalva durante los trabajos de construcción de la Trocha Fronteriza 1856 le pusieron límite a la retórica del equipo de gobierno, que claramente apostó a rivalizar con el vecino país del norte para encubrir sus negocios al amparo del Estado. martes, 19 de noviembre de 2013 Chovinismo y militarismo en Costa Rica bajo el paraguas del conflicto fronterizo con Nicaragua

    Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica)

  • Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay) Uruguay Grupo de la FT-CI Estrategia Revolucionaria 

El año que termina estuvo signado por la mayor conflictividad laboral en más de 15 años. Si bien finalmente la mayoría de los grupos en la negociación salarial parecen llegar a un acuerdo (aún falta cerrar metalúrgicos y otros menos importantes), los mismos son un buen final para el gobierno, ya que, gracias a sus maniobras (y las de la burocracia sindical) pudieron encausar la discusión dentro de los marcos del tope salarial estipulado por el Poder Ejecutivo, utilizando la movilización controlada en los marcos salariales como factor de presión ante las patronales más duras que pujaban por el “0%” de aumento. Entre la lucha de clases, la represión, y las discusiones de los de arriba Construyamos una alternativa revolucionaria para los trabajadores y la juventud

    Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay)