Brukman workers win their factory
Since December 2002, the NI has reported on the battles by the Brukman textile workers to keep working in the Buenos Aires factory that their employers walked away from. After winning and losing many battles (including three evictions, police threats and street riots), the Brukman workers have won their war.
‘We’re happy to be able to prove to the public that our fight wasn’t in vain,’ says Celia Martínez, one of the spokespeople for the workers in the factory, following the vote by the Argentine capital’s City Council finally to hand the factory from its bosses to its staff.
As a result of this decision – at the end of October last year – the city authorities will pay compensation and rent to the usurped bosses. The workers will form a co-operative, joining the list of an estimated 170 businesses across Argentina that have been ‘recovered’ in this way from bankruptcy and abandonment by their owners.
Meanwhile, a host of proposed bills have been placed before Congress that aim to make it simpler for workers to take over their firms once bankruptcy proceedings begin. President Néstor Kirchner’s Government is reportedly setting up a fund of six million pesos ($2 million) to support these new worker-run industries.
Join over 30,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, action alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
