The workers also pointed at the Agency of Workplace Risk Assurance (ART) which "does not pay attention to workplace health problems" of employees who cannot report issues out of fear of losing their jobs. Company Benefited Martin Barrionuevo, general secretary of the CTA Chivilcoy, said at a press conference that he is currently working with other workers who were fired unjustly for trying to improve their working conditions as well as with the ART to push it to take care of workplace health problems that come from the system of production within the factories.
"Paqueta is a company that benefits greatly from the employment promotion policies of the State, which only materialized from the efforts of all Chivilcoyanos [people from Chivilcoy]. There are few other companies that receive this level of investment from the city." He not only stressed monetary investment but also that of skilled labor, which is considered "one of the most qualified in Argentina and Latin America. In fact factories produce in Chivilcoy because of the level of manpower." "Here we have all the good faith investment of the neighbors and the workers, but on the side of company responsibility we find coercion against the freedom of the workers who decide to organize themselves the way they want." To this Barrionuevo added that "there is a quiet trail of workers who are left behind by the way of production of the company.
We have cases that we follow through the labor courts of workers who are only half way through their careers but who have to cut their hours be up to 70 percent because of serious health problems." He added that "the company should start to review its practices immediately, and to not further curtail the freedom of their workers because yesterday we started to circulate a small press release through social networks, which prompted the manager Van der Zand to meet with the sector of the factory where Pablo Magnone [an unjustly fired worker] and intimidate them, saying that whoever had any complaint, 'the only exit was firing.'" "We're not gong to tolerate these things, the Chivilcoyanos work in good faith for the company, but they need to be held responsible for the respect and rights within the plant," he said. Testimony For his part, Pablo Magnone, with a year and a half of seniority was fired on May 20. He related, "Many of my coworkers had diverse complaints and justifications to improve working conditions, to reclassify the employees, and to ensure that problems with injuries are not grounds for firings. I took the voice of these complaints with the CTA and they fired me." "With respect to the injuries that many people suffer that work and have worked there, many are the cause of the company dissociating itself with the employees," said Magnone.
"When workers are fired they usually don't have a way to communicate what happened to the community. My situation is different because I am in a union and that is why I call upon my coworkers who are not afraid to express their protest, to reach out to the CTA to give their support." Union Absence Of the activity of the union UTICRA, Magnone affirmed that in his case "they were absent." "The thursday or friday of last week the workers talked about what avenues would be the most effective to make our claims. On Monday I arrived to work normally, because I never arrived late nor was I ever reprimanded. The management and human resources called me and told me that now I don't belong at the company, but they didn't give me and reason for firing." Next, we evaluated why the Paqueta management fired him and "it was because he is a distinct voice that worked with and listed to his coworkers who had problems." But it didn't stop there, after Magnone left he learned that the management gathered all of the employees and the manager, Van Der Zand, said that "if anyone wants to act like Che Guevara or be more than him, they will be eliminated one by one." "Many times they spoke of black lists, of people who are marked. That's something that we don't want to live anymore in Argentina. Not long ago we buried a dictator [Jorge Rafael Videla] and we don't want any more." "What we will do here is tell the community who these people are and expose them," he said while stressing that "the attitudes of this man are very common. If you don't follow their road, you know what you have to do." A Perverse System Barrionuevo added that the management has created "a perverse system" because workers "avoid presenting medical certificates to the company related to workplace illnesses such as tendinitis or hernias, because this would start a countdown to becoming unemployed." "Then the employees self medicate, consume painkillers that aggravate the problems. In the long run, the condition worsens and the company ends up firing them, many times without recognition of the health issues." Text in Spanish: http://chivilcoyactual.com.ar/noticia.php?id=7154
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