Police evict workers at shuttered PepsiCo plant in Argentina
Several workers, journalists, and 15 officers were injured in Argentina during an eviction of a shuttered PepsiCo plant occupied by around 20 laid off employees objecting to what they consider "the fraudulent closure of the establishment."
The eviction was carried out by Buenos Aires Province Police Infantry units, with assistance from the National Gendamarmie militarized police force. They advanced on the factory with tear gas and rubber bullets, while the workers responded with stones.
Numerous journalists, cameramen, and others reported being clubbed by police. Seven workers were arrested.
The shuttered plant, located in West Florida, a working class suburb northwest of Buenos Aires, was occupied by its former workers on June 26, six days after PepsiCo Argentina shuttered the facility.
The company reported downsizing its snack production by limiting it to a plant in Mar del Plata (250 mi S of Buenos Aires). They announced that of 691 workers affected, 155 will be relocated and the rest laid off and indemnified with two months' wages.
Union delegates, however, denounced that since the closure "not one worker was transferred" and that production was instead being substituted with imports from neighboring Chile, where labor costs are around 30% lower.
They pointed as well to the secret manner in which the eviction order was issued. "They are advancing after the judge gave in to the eviction request in a meeting held in the middle of the night," said delegate Camilo Monesm.
The plant closure is one of 3,200 factory shutdowns since President Mauricio Macri, a supporter of free trade and deregulation, took office 19 months ago - an average of seven a day. At least 45,000 workers have been affected as of March.
The CAME business chamber notes that while most shutdowns are of small or medium businesses, 105 larger factories (those with 100 or more employees) have closed as well. Many others have suffered partial layoffs.
Industrial production, CAME says, declined 5% in 2016 and 3% so far this year. Unemployment in the heavily industrial Greater Buenos Aires area, where this plant is located, jumped from 6.7% in 2015 to 11.8%.
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