-Can you tell us the events leading up to the conflict?

-The brewery Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes, which had traditionally been owned by Argentineans, was purchased by Brazilian and Belgian investors who own the transnational corporation InBev. I think these gentlemen, perhaps accustomed to having their way in their respective countries, want to have the same thing here in Argentina. They want to reduce the distribution system of beer, soft drinks, bottled waters, and other beverages in the Federal Capital and the City of Buenos Aires and its Metropolitan Area: at present there are 23 distributors and they want to cut them down to just eight, which would mean leaving 2,500 workers out of work. And we’re not going to let that happen.

-What is the basis for the reduction they are proposing?

-They falsely claim that the distributors are not doing enough to promote their products, but among the distributors they want to eliminate there are workers that have received prices for increasing their beer sales. They say it’s a restructure, but in fact in many cases it’s just veiled layoffs, because, for example, they take a worker out of a route and send another that’s 70 or 80 kilometers from the first, which means that this worker would have to spend half a day traveling to and from work. This is a veiled layoff. We’re not going to accept these deceitful y manipulating tactics.  Also, this is accompanied by a marketing strategy apparently aimed at imposing the Brazilian brands in detriment of the traditional Argentinean brands.

-How many trade unions are involved in this situation?

-This involves our Truckers’ Union, as we are the ones that distribute the products, and the Argentinean Federation of Carbonated Beverages and Related Industry Workers (FATAGA), which represents beverage production workers.

- This is the second episode caused by the same issue, isn’t it? Last April, they had already sent out a thousand dismissal telegrams…(+ info)

-That’s right, they’ve already tried to implement this system and we stopped them. Now they strike again, at a time when people are drinking less beer due to the weather, maybe in the hope that any strikes or mobilizations we may call will affect them less. They think that they are going to wear us down and we’ll stop fighting for our legitimate rights and, above all, for our jobs. But they’re totally wrong.

-What actions are you taking?

-We’ve already paralyzed the Pompeya, Quilmes, Zárate, and Mar del Plata plants, and now we’re going to continue with other plants around the country. Right now, as we speak, there are also two large groups of our workers demonstrating in front of the Brazilian and Belgian embassies, where we’ve decided to put up a tent as a permanent awareness action to let the public know what’s going on. But they just called to inform me that they’re being repressed by the Police, who apparently has orders to prevent our workers from setting up camp. But these people are not going to get away with it. We want to denounce these Brazilian and Belgian capitalists, who want to trample over everything like they’ve done in other countries where they practically hold a monopoly.

-How do you plan to continue this struggle?

-There is no way we’re going to let them eliminate 2,500 jobs. We are going to fight with all the legal and legitimate instruments available to us, supported by the right we have to hold on to our jobs. We’re already working in coordination with FATAGA, because we’ve both been hit by these gentlemen, who have not paid the thirteenth month half bonus, who’ve only paid us 70 percent of our salaries, and, in the case of the workers represented by FATAGA, are refusing to pay the wage increases agreed on during the joint commission discussions…

-It’s almost like they’re provoking you…

-It’s an aggression and a provocation, and we’re not going to stand for it; these people will have to conform to our country’s current labor situation, or else we will continue with this. They’re crazy if they think we’d be willing to give up 2,500 jobs just like that. The problem is that these people came here with a first world, and Brazilian, mentality, and they think they can do whatever they want with our workers, but we’re not going to stand for it. If what they want is a fight, we’ll put up a hard struggle. But we have no other choice than to resist, and make them understand that no matter how much money they have, they can’t come and trample workers in a country like Argentina.

Carlos Amorín © Rel-UITA July 11, 2007