On Monday, May 4, Héctor Morcillo, the general secretary of the food industry workers’ union STIA Córdoba, together with union secretary Eduardo Cornejo, appeared at the Bagley plant in the city of Córdoba to stop police officers from harassing plant delegates who were about to hold a union meeting in the shipping area.
The company is not paying perfect attendance bonuses and night shift differentials to workers in the risk group, who under the Necessity and Urgency Decree (DNU) issued by the government are exempted from going to work, and neither is it including half-hour rest breaks when calculating the hours they pay them.
In addition, management refuses to pay wages to parents who under the DNU are entitled to stay home to care for their children.
“The police argues that we’re breaking the law. They came and threatened to arrest the delegates. All we’re doing is demanding our rights and defending the wages, safety, and lives of our fellow workers,” Morcillo said.
The police acted inside and outside the factory, which clearly shows that the company authorized its actions expressly.
“It’s reminiscent of the dictatorship years: companies asking the police to repress, threaten, and pressure workers who are fighting for their rights, their safety, and even their lives. And to make things worse, they’re doing it in the middle of a pandemic,” Eduardo Cornejo protested.
“So human rights are not spared in times of coronavirus?” Morcillo asked outraged.
The IUF will continue to monitor this alarming situation very closely.
