SASETRU: Production for Social Need, Not for Profit!
Por Argentina Solidarity Committee - Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2003 at 9:07 PM
sf_adam@rocketmail.com

From the Argentina Solidarity Committee Workers Don't Need the Bosses to Run Factories!

SASETRU: Production for Social Need, Not for Profit!
The sit down strikes during the Thirties helped pave the way for industrial unionism in this country and much of the world. Today, in Argentina, there is another historical development in the march of labor that builds from these lessons.
In the face of massive economic collapse, unemployment, poverty, and starvation, the Argentine workers are taking matters into their own hands. Instead of passively allowing the bosses to toss them out into the streets and close down work sites, Thousands are taking over and running the factories and other workplaces for themselves and the working class community. At least 200 work sites are now being run by the workers. Much to their surprise, they are able to employ more, produce more, and take home a higher wage than when the owners and management sat in the captain’s seat.
The sit down strikes in this country revealed the power of workers when they put down their tools and demanded better conditions. The occupied factory movement in Argentina reveals not only that the workers don’t need the capitalists to run things, but that they can do it better for all of society without them.
Today, at the Sasetru factory, the workers’ run factory movement is taking a bold turn. Sasetru, once the nation's largest cooking oil producing factory in the world’s leading nation for this product, has been shut down for twenty years. Located in a city ravaged by unemployment and hunger, the people in the neighborhood of the factory, including former Sasetru employees pooled together, retooled the factory, and got it ready for production of much needed food.
Part of the significance of this action is its scale. Sasetru covers several hectares. Currently, they have retooled the section that makes pasta. This will directly employ 150 while indirectly providing an estimated 2,500 jobs in the commercial, industrial, and service sectors. Ultimately, the goal is to get the entire factory running, which will create hundreds--if not thousands--of jobs. Their product will be directed to the growing community kitchen movement, which is on the frontline in the struggle against starvation in this once prosperous country.
The Sasetru occupation is also especially ambitious because workers are not only taking over a work site, but they are rebuilding one that has been vacant for decades. Compared to the other occupied factories, they are starting from scratch. It is a great example of the resourcefulness and progressive power of our class. As the bosses are shutting down production, the workers are taking over a long idle factory and putting it to use for society.
Bosses' Cops Evict Workers
On March 25, 2003 this magnificent achievement was meant with an armed assault by 700 cops protecting the owner’s (Molisur corp.) sacred right of property and their intention to let Sasetru rot while the community suffered. The drama of the eviction of the Sasetru workers and their supporters transfixed the entire Argentina nation as it sat in front of their TVs. The workers defiantly took everything the cops could dish out – massive clouds of tear gas, a hail of rubber and wooden bullets, beatings, unjust arrests, etc. It was clear that the cops were prepared to resort to a massacre to keep the owners happy. Rather then face certain military defeat, the workers’ wisely withdrew so they could use other means to carry out the fight.
Since then, the cause of "Sasetru Gestion Obera" (Sasetru Under Workers’ Management) has marched forward. Just one week after the eviction, 10,000 supporters surrounded the legislature in the capital of Buenos Aires province demanding the plants immediate return to those who had rebuilt and occupied it. A week after that hundreds marched 12 kilometers to protest the states brutal eviction. At every mobilization of the occupied factory movement (and there have been many) the cause of regaining Sasetru has become a spearhead for strengthening this inspiring and audacious development.
All this, as well as growing international support, has been packing a powerful wallop against the forces of exploitation. This is most clearly seen in the recent passage of a bill by the Buenos Aires Province Senate on June 26th that allows for the reopening of Sasetru under workers’ management.
A similar bill was put forward by the workers’ themselves. They proposed the handing over of Sasetru within thirty days along with all the expropriated assets; a non-refundable state subsidy to help start up production; and that Sasetru be given most favored state supplier status with all of its food destined for relief in the poor barrios.
The bill passed unanimously by the senate falls short of this. For instance, it demands financial compensation to the former owners, which is outrageous considering they have been using all of their resources to keep it closed down. (It should be noted, however, that if these payments are not made, the state would assume ownership which would still constitute a step forward over handing it back to the original owners.) In fact, the bill is more restricted then other similar measures that have been taken in favor of establishing workers’ management for smaller operations.
Furthermore, in order to be implemented, the bill must pass through the House of Deputies. There will be no end of delaying tactics and sabotage efforts. Nevertheless, the fact that it went through in a body sworn to protect the interests of the rich and powerful exposes the intensity of the class struggle in Argentina, the strength of the occupied factory movement and the roots that the cause of Sasetru has established within the struggling masses.
The passage of the Sasetru expropriation bill is but one victorious step in a process of building an independent working class response to the capitalist crisis. It shows the weakness of the bourgeoisie in relation to the gathering momentum of the workers. It will help embolden the working class movement in their demands and increase their influence.
A new confederation of occupied plants could go a long ways in strengthening and unifying the battles against the bosses. All factories that lay off or close should be immediately subject to expropriation without compensation. The massive funds that are now going to pay the robber baron IMF should instead go to, among other things, expanding these workers controlled plants. Furthermore, the banks themselves should be nationalized so as to direct resources and credit towards the workers’ undertakings.
Sasetru poses the question of power once again The struggle by the workers of Sasetru magnifies the inability of the capitalist system to provide jobs and produce food, both of which are in increasingly short supply in Argentina. The workers have paid over and over for the mistakes of the capitalists. Now it time for the tables to turn. It is the workers, not the capitalists who can make factories run..
In this country we should offer our solidarity and, whenever possible, assistance while we fight our own struggles. Conditions for U.S. workers are being reversed back to the state that inspired our own wave of sit down strikes and the formation of the CIO. Now we have the experiences of our Argentina brothers and sisters to build on as well.
Help Expropriate Sasetru!
The bosses of the world stand together against the workers. We must reach out in solidarity and assist the workers of Argentina in this crucial battle to expropriate Sasetru. Please send an email to the Governnor of the Province of Buenos Aires. He must know that the whole world of the working class stands with Sasetru! Isolated and fragmented we are slaves in the capitalist system. Standing and fighting we are the proletarian class, capable of running production and all of society for the benefit of the vast majority.
You can help NOW with an email to the Governor of Buenos Aires Province and a copy to the workers organization Just to make it extra convenient, here is the suggested text and the email address:
Governor Señor Felipe Solo
email: sprivgob@gba.gov.ar
cc: sasetrugestionobrera@hotmail.com


poloobrero@fibertel.com.ar


secprensa@poloobrero.org.ar


sf_adam@rocketmail.com

"We demand the withdrawal of the police and for the workers to be given immediate access to the plant. We demand the expropriation of the machinery and premises of Sasetru in favor of the Cooperativa Sasetru Gestión
Obrera (Sasetru Cooperative Under Workers'Management)."
Argentina Solidarity Committee
For info or to volunteer: (415) 864-3537/ Sf_Adam@rocketmail.com
Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Argentina_Solidarity/
Labor donated

groups.yahoo.com/group/Argentina_Solidarity/

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