meat workers stop on Monday

The Federation of Trade Unions of Meat and Related Workers (Fesitcara) decided for next Monday a national stoppage of activities for 24 hours in all the refrigeration plants in the country in repudiation of the repression produced this Thursday against the workers of the Penta de Quilmes refrigerator., the guild reported.

The workers were repressed and some wounded with rubber bullets by the Buenosairean police forces when they demanded the reinstatement of 240 dismissed operatives, the reopening of the factory and the payment of wages.

The measure of force was adopted by the national leadership of the union organization led by Gabriel Vallejos, who described the events that occurred in front of the industrial establishment as “regrettable”.

“It is unfortunate what happened this afternoon in the Penta refrigerator. It is inexplicable that there are 240 street workers, especially in the context of a pandemic. The only response to the just demands was brutal repression, for which Fesitcara will go on a national strike in principle for 24 hours next Monday, “the union leader said in a statement.

The head of Fesitcara, the national organization parallel to the Trade Union Federation of the Personnel of the Meat Industry and its Derivatives, led by José Fantini, assured that more than 20 workers were victims of “a brutal repression by Buenos Aires police forces. “just for demanding against the refrigerator the payment of owed wages and reinstatements.

The factory in Quilmeño is on the Camino General Belgrano.

Vallejos said that 5 workers were hospitalized with rubber bullet wounds in the Francisco Ollano Subzonal Maternal-Child Hospital of Francisco Solano.

Vallejos himself was injured by a rubber bullet during the crackdown, the union reported in the press document, adding that other workers were “beaten” and some leaders “handcuffed” while supporting the protest..

The Central of the Autonomous Argentina Workers (CTAA) led by Ricardo Peidro, which also supported the union actions in the place, repudiated “the repression and the 240 dismissals” and confirmed that its owner, the businessman Ricardo Bruzzese, does not allow a fortnight ago the entrance of the meat workers to the establishment and does not pay wages either.

Claudio Arévalo, general secretary of the CTAA and the Association of State Workers (ATE) of Quilmes, denounced that in “a critical context for the country, the entrepreneurs who enriched themselves with the neoliberal model for years now do not hesitate to dismiss in the face of the first crisis and in demanding repression. “

The Mayor of Quilmeña Mayra Mendoza, of the Frente de Todos, also repudiated today the repression of the Buenos Aires police officers against the Penta workers who were trying to enter the Bernal Oeste plant in defense of their labor sources before the certain possibility of the definitive closure of the factory.

“In no way does the municipality of Quilmes endorse the repression suffered by the workers and repudiate violence as a mechanism for solving the conflict. In the framework of the pandemic and, in the midst of this critical situation, 240 workers were dismissed,” said a document. from the Quilmeña commune.

In as much, the Buenosairean government, through the General Audit of Internal Subjects dependent on the Buenosairean security minister, Sergio Berni, ordered on Thursday night to disaffect the policemen who threw rubber bullets in the protest of workers of the Penta refrigerator in Quilmes.

The decision was made because the Bonaerense troops “had no order to repress” during the protest.

After the incidents, Berni appeared at the scene and then visited the hospital where the wounded had been transferred.

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