Third International Workshop of ARCOR Workers

With Héctor Morcillo

Federation of Arcor Workers represents the realization of an old aspiration

Following a process of discussion and interaction, labor unions and federations from Argentina and Brazil, gathered at the Third International Workshop of Arcor Workers recently held in São Paulo, decided to form a Latin American Federation of Arcor Workers. Sirel spoke with Héctor Morcillo, assistant general secretary of the Federation of Food Industry Workers (STIA) of Argentina, who summarized the conclusions of the Workshop.

-What is your evaluation of this Workshop?

-We are very pleased with this activity because we see it as the continuation of the September 2008 meeting that resulted in the creation of the Latin American Coordinating Committee of Arcor Workers, which inaugurated its activities with concrete solidarity actions. This occurred during our conflict in Argentina last year, where Arcor workers and union leaders in Brazil supported our struggle by gathering at the gates of their factories to hold long meetings and inform fellow workers of the situation we were suffering in Argentina.

These measures greatly supported our efforts, contributing to the resolution of the conflict, and they are an example of the path we must take, unifying Arcor workers throughout the region.

-This workshop approved the creation of the Latin American Federation of Arcor Workers…

-That’s correct. And we plan to hold a special meeting to formally establish this Federation in September, with Arcor workers from Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina.

This consolidates a line of work that focuses on organization and ties of solidarity, and seeks, among other things, to achieve a unification of the policies applied by Arcor in the different countries of the region, in terms of the wages it pays and the benefits it grants workers in its plants.

-At the workshop there was also talk of a regional diagnosis…

-This entails conducting a thorough investigation of the wages paid by the company, finding points in common and determining differences. The aim is to stop the company from relocating, or threatening to relocate, plants to profit from the comparative advantages it may find in other parts of the region, in terms of lower labor costs and less-structured or weaker labor movements. Our task is to make those differences disappear and to achieve equal working conditions for all Arcor workers. As we have always said, we don’t want to stop the company from growing and enhancing its leadership in the region. What we want is a more just distribution of the benefits of that growth, and for workers to benefit evenly throughout the region.

-How did you come to this?

-Our efforts began at the First Workshop held in São Paulo in 2007, where organizations from Brazil and Argentina participated. The Federation is an old aspiration of Arcor workers in Córdoba, dating back to 1995 and 1996, when we faced huge conflicts and the company threatened to close down the plants and relocate to other countries in the region. Since then, Arcor has continued its process of acquisitions and has grown significantly in Brazil, Chile and Peru, and now also in Paraguay and Bolivia.

What was once an aspiration gradually became real thanks to the policy of Rel-UITA (the IUF’s Latin American Regional Office), which has served as a reference point for the national federations of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina.

This Third International Workshop of Arcor Workers that has just concluded would not have been possible without the cooperation, experience, organizational support and economic aid of Rel-UITA.