The Cordoba company The Dairy is in a critical situation following the interruption of the activities carried out by Association of Dairy Workers of the Argentine Republic (Atilra) since last January 6th.
“The premature abandonment of the business occurred when the company’s tanks contained 250,000 liters of milk received from dairies, of which to date 70,000 liters had to be confiscated due to the impossibility of being prosecuted”, they said from the SME of the provincial capital. For this reason the company has stopped invoicing more than 800 million pesos, which “leads it to absolute defunding” AND “collapse“, according to its board of directors.
“Today the unease takes over us. After a week of unresolved conflict, it is very difficult to explain what you feel because it is a whole life in which values have always been privileged, it is sad”, said Martín Filippi, vice-president of La Lácteo, with regret.
Atilra decided to go on strike after January 5, the fourth working day of the month, the employer will not be able to complete the full payment of salaries, leaving a percentage pending. Lácteo then promised the union to do so. in the following three working days. However, the union has paralyzed tasks in all sectors: productive, administrative, financial, commercial, logistics and services.
According to the Córdoba SME, the average salary of its 129 employees is higher than that of Córdoba $1,250,000.
“This small delay in the payment of salaries was caused, mainly, by the decrease in sales and receipts during the previous 45 days, following delays in the supply of packaging material – corrugated cardboard boxes and trays – because it contains imported components whose difficulty in importing is publicly known and has also been widely informed to our staff, a situation which has been regularized since the end of the year with the opening of imports into the country”, explained the company.
It is worth mentioning that La Lácteo filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2018, which is why it has since encountered difficulties, limitations on access to credit and financial restrictions. But, according to their authorities, as of January 5 they were up to date with the salaries of all staff and were functioning normally.
“I’m the person who develops strategies every day. For two years we have been fighting to stabilize everything This, I designed a plan that cost me a lot. We were weathering the storm. When I reassembled all this it was impossible, because the end of last year was dramatic for the dairy, at the last moment, when I only needed support for three days There wasn’t even a bit of understanding,” Filippi complained.
On Monday morning, Filipi, together with his father Raúl, president of La Lácteo, met with the union leadership, the delegates of the two factories Ferreyra and Villa Rosario, and the entire board of directors of the Córdoba sectional company, issuing a warning. : “If we don’t get back to work now, The consequences will be enormous.“However the union responded that the workers They would not resume their homework or dialogue until all salaries have been paid.
That same day, in the afternoon, «already amidst sadness and discomfort, I came across a group of employees who were sitting under a plant, and almost all of them They told me they hadn’t received the same information from the union that I was telling them.“Filippi saw it again. It was at that moment that a delegate asked him to leave because “from above” he had been told not to talk to people anymore because I was about to be reported for workplace harassment. “It’s a moment in which we ask ourselves: who’s in charge here? What margin of maneuver do I have left in this situation? It’s degrading,” said the entrepreneur.
Today the strike prevents the operation of businesses as only twenty people remain in office outside the agreement and a dozen employees of the First Step program of the government of the province of Córdoba.
The company specified that, despite having warned the staff, the union delegates and the Atilra section of Córdoba, of the impossibility of operating it would lead the company to collapse“intransigence and hostility remained immovable”. As a result, they could only partially cover their bank accounts, causing checks to be returned to suppliers due to lack of funds, which caused, among other effects, that many dairy companies will stop selling milk to the dairy sector.
“This paralysis causes you to slowly bleed to death. We have continuously reduced production, because the supply chain has been cut, today there is no more milk coming in, and I also have to have responsibilities towards the suppliers. Not only will it be impossible to fulfill the estate, but continuity will be impossible“said the director.
Lácteo also reported that although its lawyers requested mandatory conciliation from the province’s Ministry of Labor on January 6, government authorities only summoned the parties for a hearing on January 11.
At this meeting, the company urged workers to return to work to avoid “the serious and irreversible consequences of this unprecedented measure of force” so that “resources are generated and the payment of salaries can be regularized on January 19th”.
Meanwhile, the union has requested an intermediate room to hold a meeting, at the end of which, The staff rejected the employer’s proposal and decided to continue the strike indefinitely until all salaries are paid.
“In light of this desperate image We understand that it is necessary to communicate the situation to our customers, suppliers, public authorities, consumers and the general public, sincerely apologizing for any inconvenience it may have caused them,” the PMI said in a statement. And it said that despite “this terrible blow”, will continue to make every effort to obtain the necessary funds to restart operations.
“Until the situation changes direction, I will fulfill my obligations as much as possible with the capital we have left, whatever, including assets, but continue, I won’t continue“I assure you of this,” Filippi said.
“We hope that our dramatic and pathetic case inform the national and provincial authorities competent in industrial and labor matters and the trade union managements that in these situations they must act quickly and responsibly and that in this way prevent sources of production and work from continuing to be needlessly destroyed as happened in this new case with our century-old company,” said La Lácteo.
“For me, the most important thing is to respect the commitments we have. And to make a clear analysis of what responsibilities each person has. As I like to say: Whoever tolerates disorder to avoid war will have disorder first and then war.“concluded Filippi.
The parties will meet again on January 15th in a new hearing at the provincial Ministry of Labour.
Conflict in SanCor
On the other hand, Atilra also interrupted the production and commercial activity of the SanCor cooperative with coercive measures for 65 days from 18 October to 22 December 2023. The parties are currently in mandatory conciliation but, as quantified by the company, the lack of production, distribution and sales of the products during that period generated a loss exceeding 4.5 billion pesos.
“During this week, all workers who carried out their tasks received the sum of 250,000 pesos committed to the plan. The Cooperative depends on its income to fulfill its obligations, which is why it is firmly determined to faithfully implement the workers’ plan. payments, always with the premise that those who work get paid,” SanCor reported.
Source: Clarin
