[Peace-discuss] Chicago Factory Occupation: Argentina all over again?

[webmaster at one-world.org]

Hi, Jen,

  My goals are to contribute to getting working people the best  
situation possible, in defense of the right to work.

  I used to live in CU, but now I'm in college in Arizona.  I served  
for 2 years as president of the Champaign County United Nations  
Association from 2002-2004.  I wish I could host a showing of The  
Take, but I'm sure you could arrange it for AWARE, and I would be  
happy to take any questions remotely.

  Yes, it's true that the Urbana City Council would be more receptive  
to this sort of thing; maybe you could petition for a statement.  But  
the most effective action right now is for people to get up to Goose  
Island and spend a few hours adding physical presence to the ongoing  
demonstrations.  We all need to learn more about the  
subject--especially what prospects exist for worker appropriation of  
bankrupt businesses in the US.  If you think Bloomington should hear  
about this idea, let's contact the right people there, too.

  Sadly, I don't have the means to come to Chicago right now.  But I'm  
working on it....
In the meantime, I'm sure there are people who can do good work and  
maybe get some precedents set at any level or scale.

John Baldridge
wrkrcoop at email.arizona.edu

Jen, I replied to your mail, but got a bounce.

Hi John,
Are you based in CU?? I think it would be great if AWARE showed The  
Take one of these months,  especially if you were there to introduce  
the film and lead the discussion  afterwards. I don't know if you'd  
get YOUR goals met by this, but it would be a fantastic opportunity  
for those attending to learn more about the subject. As as for having  
the "right city council"... well when it comes to things like this,  
Champaign has a "far right city council." Urbana might be more  
receptive... or a neighboring town such as Bloomington (which just  
lost its Mitsubishi plant), with its fairly active peace and justice  
community (tho' not sure they're ready to take ownership of any  
factories just yet).
  --Jenifer


--- On Sun, 12/7/08, webmaster at one-world.org <webmaster at one-world.org> wrote:

     From: webmaster at one-world.org <webmaster at one-world.org>
     Subject: [Peace-discuss] Chicago Factory Occupation: Argentina  
all over again?
     To: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
     Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008, 12:26 AM

     Here's a little background on how worker takeovers went down in Argentina.
     I know the US is different, but I think some of the same strategies might
     apply....

     After the 2001 economic crash in Argentina, around 200 bankrupt  
and closed-down
     business were occupied and then taken over by their workers. Most of these
     workers formed cooperatives to manage the business without the  
boss, and run it
     themselves. Eventually, dozens of these "recovered" businesses were
     granted legal recognition by the government, which used eminent domain to
     transfer ownership from the original owners to the worker coops, giving a
     20-year mortgage at favorable lending terms.  It's a complex and inspiring
     tale; you can see a good documentary about it, called The Take  
(Naomi Klein
     & Avi Lewis), for an excellent introduction.

     As it turns out, "recovered" businesses are doing rather well.
     They've discovered that the previous owners were pretty much  
unnecessary for
     running the business; ditto with top management. Most of the  
working people are
     paid at least as well as they were before the takeover, and many  
are getting
     paid more. In any case, it seems to be a good way to put a  
business back to work
     quickly, in a way that preserves peoples' jobs. Basically, the  
state settles
     the bankruptcy on the state's terms, in effect nationalizing the business,
     and then appoints the productive workers to run it. In Argentina,  
the 20-year
     loan is sometimes based on the amount of the outstanding credit  
settlement.

     I've been in Argentina recently, and conducted interviews with workers at
     many of these businesses for the dissertation I am writing. I  
would love to make
     contact with someone among the Republic workers, and make sure  
they know about
     what's going on in Argentina. I could even share some Argentine contacts
     with recovered businesses, so they could swap notes. In any case,  
someone should
     let them know about this model for keeping a business from  
shutting down. A good
     lawyer and a sympathetic city council could make this happen here.

     So, there you have it.  Do you think such strategy could work?   
If not in this
     case, then eventually, somewhere else?  I think a lot has to do  
with A) mass,
     and persistent public support, including rallies, and B) the  
right people on a
     local city council.

     Anyone who wants more info on the Argentina situation, please let  
me know.  I
     can provide some good links (especially for people who can read Spanish).

     Ciao,
     John.

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