IMPA

Mon, 28/12/15

Workers’ Factory Takeovers and the 'Programme for Self-Managed Work'

In Argentina, the government attempted to ‘institutionalise’ the occupied factories, de- politicising the radical aspects of workers’ actions in exchange for financial and technical assistance.

In the last decade many Argentine enterprises became bankrupt, inspiring thousands of workers to take them over and resume production by forming cooperatives. In 2004, the Programme for Self-Managed Work became the instrument by which the government ‘institutionalised’ the takeovers, de- politicising the radical aspects of workers’ actions in exchange for financial and technical assistance in pursuit of workers’ objectives of job preservation and self-managed work.

read more »

Geographical: Era: Topic: Experiences: 
Tue, 21/10/14

Workers’ Self-management, Recovered Companies and the Sociology of Work

An article that analyses how far Argentina’s worker-recovered companies have become sustainable production models whilst maintaining their values of equity and workers’ self-management.

We analyse how far Argentina’s worker-recovered companies (WRCs) have sustained themselves and their principles of equity and workers’ self-management since becoming widespread following the country’s 2001–2 economic crisis. We find that the number of WRCs has increased in Argentina, and that they represent a viable production model. Further, they have generally maintained their central principles and even flourished. This occurred despite the global economic crisis, legal and financial pressures to adopt capitalist practices and management structures, the risk of market absorption and state attempts to coopt, demobilise and depoliticise the movement.
read more »
Geographical: Era: Topic: Experiences: 
Mon, 10/09/12

On the Crisis of Capitalism, Argentina’s Worker-Recuperated Enterprises, and the Possibilities for Another World

An interview with Eduardo Murúa, former president of Argentina’s Movement of Recuperated Enterprises, on how workers occupy failing firms, resist repression and re-open them as workers’ coops.

In the interview, Murúa lays out how almost 10,000 workers in over 200 once-failing, owner-run firms eventually came to manage them cooperatively and without bosses. Most poignantly for our current conjuncture, he also predicts that the world’s capitalist system, debt-ridden and exploitative as it is, is inevitably heading for an impending financial crisis – a crisis we are now living through. He also expresses clearly and with passion his vision for a different Argentina and Latin America – where wealth might be distributed more equitably and where work, the means of production, and the products of workers’ labours could be controlled by workers themselves.

read more »

Geographical: Era: Topic: Experiences: 
Syndicate content