Tensions are at their peak between the company British American Tobacco (BAT, formerly Nobleza Piccardo) and the sector’s trade unions that are accusing the multinational corporation of carrying out a systematic plan to empty out the company, disguised as “internal restructuring”, which in practice translates into veiled layoffs, a wage freeze, and an illegal reduction of the payroll.

According to labor organizations—the Union of Tobacco Workers of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the Province of Buenos Aires, along with our affiliate, the Federation of Tobacco Workers of the Republic of Argentina (FTTRA)—BAT management is pushing the situation toward a scenario of deliberate precarization.

In response, the organizations representing tobacco workers have declared a state of alert and mobilization, and further announce that they will not let the company move forward with an adjustment they describe as “brutal, unjustified, and designed to discipline workers.”

In this sense, FTTRA General Secretary Salvador Basile, along with the Steering Committee, are demanding an immediate revision of the company’s layoffs policy, a wage update, and strict compliance with payroll percentages established by law.

“Rel UITA will launch a call to its affiliates in Brazil’s tobacco sector, asking them to be ready to stand by BAT workers in Argentina and offer them their firmest class solidarity,” IUF Regional Secretary Gerardo Iglesias informed.