Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

No Bread for Our Children, No Peace for Our Bosses

Camilo Mones is a PepsiCo worker, member of the shop-floor committee within the factory and leader of the Bordó opposition caucus of the Food Industry Workers’ Union (STIA).

Camilo Mones

July 8, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the northern industrial zone of the capital of Argentina, the US multinational corporation PepsiCo shut down its food packaging plant abruptly, leaving 600 workers jobless. The workers voted in assembly and occupied the factory in a fierce battle against the layoff and relocation. Now, PepsiCo is threatening a violent eviction of the workers’ occupation.

Camilo Mones is a member of the shop-floor committee within the factory and leader of the Bordó opposition caucus of the Food Industry Workers’ Union (STIA). He spoke with Left Voice’s sister network, La Izquierda Diario, about the current struggle.

To support, sign the statement by PepsiCo workers HERE

Where is the conflict at?

Since finding the notice of closure on June 20, many things have happened. We had been denouncing the fact that the company was moving machinery out of PepsiCo and discussing the possibilities of new attacks with comrades. And the company did decide to launch a very strong attack, attempting to leave 600 families on the streets.

PepsiCo is not facing any crisis: it is a giant food company and in Argentina recorded profits of US$220 million on its last known balance sheet.

The objective is to attack the organization that workers have built up in the factory and increase their profits by shifting production to Mar del Plata [a city more than 400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires]. PepsiCo’s actions are completely illegal, and we have told the courts. On the other hand, workers have been meeting since that day to discuss what steps to take.

We forced the union to call a delegates’ meeting. There, the delegates from PepsiCo spoke, as well as a number of other workers who have been at the forefront of this struggle. Against the arguments of [STIA secretary Rodolfo] Daer and his supporters that “nothing can be done”, we proposed that, if a plan of action is launched, if the union pushes for a general strike, we can defeat PepsiCo.

They are making use of the government’s pro-business stance and the fact that the union bureaucracy lets them get away with it.

But the bureaucracy revealed its level of treachery that day, rejecting a strike and then later signing an agreement with the Ministry of Labour that limited itself to asking for more compensation.

In the following days we had discussions with comrades in the camp and on June 26 we held a very important assembly, where we decided to enter the factory to save our jobs.

This was important for two reasons: first, because for the comrades this step gave them a lot of confidence, it convinced those that had doubts, it lifted morale.

And second because of the repercussions it had. Within a very short time the main TV and radio stations were here, broadcasting our media conference. Everyone found out that, in the midst of a wave of sackings, there was a group of workers that were not going to sit back and take it.

Do you view what is happening at PepsiCo as part of a more generalized situation?

Totally. If you look at what has happened in these last few weeks, the bosses are extremely emboldened. In Atucha there were 500 sackings; in Hutchinson they closed down and left 380 on the streets, just a few streets away; 180 in Puma La Rioja; 170 in Lanxes Zarate, Walmart, and the same in graphic workshops, in the metal sector.

They are making use of the government’s pro-business stance and the fact that the union bureaucracy lets them get away with it.

What Daer has allowed to happen is a scandal. In our union, there have been 7500 sackings and the leaders want to sell this as what happens “when the left asks for too much”.

PepsiCo is a test case. We are conscious that it will be a difficult fight, but we want to show our willingness to fight and send a message to the bosses and the government that there are people who will fight back against their attacks.

It’s quite the opposite. In companies where Daer’s supporters run the union, the owners get away with whatever they want. But where class struggle groupings exist, such as in PepsiCo or Mondelez Victoria, not only have we won rights for workers, but we have taken a stance against sackings.

In the midst of this passivity of the union leaders, the government and business owners want to move forward with their anti-worker plans. They know that if this new wave of mass sackings happens without resistance, they will be able to weaken the working class, because unemployment will rise and those that have a job will accept more precarious conditions.

PepsiCo is a test case. We are conscious that it will be a difficult fight, but we want to show our willingness to fight and send a message to the bosses and the government that there are people who will fight back against their attacks.

And what is your plan?

Well, we will fight, with our organisation and with the support we have already received from workers’ and political organisations. We are still here in the factory to protect our jobs; we hold assemblies here and many organisations and individuals have come here to visit us.

But our plan is to use this place as a centre of organisation for struggle, to go out from here and hit the company where it hurts the most. Like we did on June 22 when we blockaded the warehouse where PepsiCo products leave from, something we will continue to do.

We want to make our fight as public as possible, take strong action, visit other factories covered by the union and develop a strong campaign against the trademark and image of the company.

That is why we are already enacting measures and initiating days of actions [the first of which was held on July 4]. We are going to promote joint actions with all those opposed to the closure and sackings in PepsiCo. We are already meeting with workers from other unions and factories.

As a comrade from Kraft said at the rally we held after entering the factory: “If there is no bread for our children, there will be no peace for the bosses”.

This plan has another important pillar: a strike fund. We all know that the bosses try to break strikes through hunger. Well, we have started going to different workplaces, universities, even other worker organisations. We have opened a bank account to receive contributions, and there are solidarity activities being planned.

You mentioned that in regards to the PepsiCo trademark, you are pushing for a boycott campaign.

Yes. PepsiCo is a company that cynically runs expensive campaigns about “social responsibility”, while it leaves 600 families out on the street.

Many of my comrades have been working here for 20 years: they are mothers, they have been physically destroyed by the repetitive nature of the work, and the company talks of “empowering women”. So we want to expose the real image of the company.

That is why we have begun the campaign “Don’t buy Lays or PepsiCo products”, which is supported by people such as [Nobel Peace Prize winner] Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Nora Cortinas, Mirta Baravalle and Elia Espen, who are from the Mothers of the Disappeared.

We are willing to maintain the struggle for as long as necessary. Staying in the factory, surrounded by solidarity, but also going all out to reverse the brutal decision by PepsiCo, and the complicity of the government, to leave 600 families on the street.

Translated by Federico Fuentes

Support PepsiCo workers today by signing the PETITION . Also, help Left Voice send a delegation to Argentina this August! A portion of your donations will go toward the workers’ fight for their jobs against the US-based multinational. You can send photos with a message of solidarity for PepsiCo workers to [email protected]

Facebook Twitter Share

Labor Movement

Three tables full of food, with signs hung above them. One says "The People's Pantry: FREE FOOD." Banners hung from the tables say "Free CUNY" and "Cop Free School Zone"

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023

Temple’s Grad Worker Strike Ends with Important Victories 

The last report on the strike from a union teacher at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Jason Koslowski

March 17, 2023

Teachers and Education Workers Set to Strike! Tens of Thousands Rally in Los Angeles 

A three day strike was announced by two education unions at a rally attended by tens of thousands of members. The workers are calling for increased wages, reduced class size, and an end to harassment by their employers.

Julia Wallace

March 17, 2023
A sign drawn on a small whiteboard, in trans pride colors. Text: "CUNY Graduate Center and Professional Schools Workers for Trans Rights" Beneath the text is a chain of 9 smiling stick figures in different colors, all holding hands

CUNY Union Chapter Unanimously Passes Resolution in Support of Trans Rights

The Graduate Center chapter of PSC-CUNY, the faculty, staff, and graduate worker union of the City University of New York, passed a resolution pledging support to all workers fighting the anti-trans bills nationwide.

Olivia Wood

March 12, 2023

MOST RECENT

Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

It is Possible to Win: The Pension Reform Crisis in France

A French socialist reflects on the way forward after Macron invites Article 49.3 to pass pension reform.

Paul Morao

March 20, 2023

“We are your economy”: Trans Youth Walkout and Speak Out

The following is a speech by a young trans person as part of an action called for by NYC Youth for Trans Rights.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 20, 2023