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This story flew right under my radar, but it's pretty remarkable. In the past 18 months, with the Argentine economy in free-fall, over 200 factories have been effectively taken over and run by the workers—in a sort of industrial squatting.
And it's been an economic success: many of the factories were abandoned because the operators, even after slashing worker salaries to a pittance, couldn't even pay utilities—but operating as non-profits under the management of the workers, the factories have paid their back bills and even attracted new customers, while providing a living wage for the workers. "I don't know why the owners had such a hard time," one worker says. "I don't know much about accounting, but for me it's easy: addition and subtraction."
Is it legal? Depends who you ask. Some factories have been granted the legal right to continue as cooperative enterprises, but the government and big business are worried about the trend: "Life and physical integrity have no supremacy over economic interests," writes one Argentine federal judge.
I think it's an interesting paradigm—beating capitalism at its own game by making the factories viable economic concerns. And I'm fascinated by the idea of worker organization with its power based not on the threat of collective work stoppage, but on the promise of increased operating efficiency.
Is it theft? Is it a threat to the idea of private property? Is it the beginning of a worker's paradise? Are the workers prospering unfairly from the investments in infrastructure made by the former owners? But if the former owners were so goddam smart, how come they couldn't meet their operating costs? What do y'all think? |
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