{"id":8494,"date":"2009-08-14T15:43:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T22:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8494"},"modified":"2009-08-14T15:43:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-14T22:43:29","slug":"fasinpat-worker-occupied-and-democratically-run-factory-in-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8494","title":{"rendered":"FASINPAT: Worker-Occupied and Democratically Run Factory in Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’ve been reading about FASINPAT<\/a>, a worker-owned, democratically run ceramics factory in Argentina. From Marie Trigona<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The workers at Argentina’s occupied ceramics factory FASINPAT won a major victory this week, the factory now definitively belongs to the people in legal terms. The provincial legislature voted in favor of expropriating the ceramics factory and handing it over to the workers cooperative to manage legally and indefinitely. […] Hundreds of workers from the FASINPAT factory, factory without a boss, waited anxiously until the late hours of the night for the legislature’s decision. The expropriation law passed 26 votes in favor and 9 votes against the bill. […]<\/p>\n

FASINPAT has operated under worker control since 2001 when Zanon’s owners decided to close its doors and fire the workers without paying months of back pay or severance pay. Leading up to the massive layoffs and plant’s closure, workers went on strike in 2000. The owner, Luis Zanon, with over 75 million dollars in debt to public and private creditors (including the World Bank for over 20 million dollars), fired en masse most of the workers and closed the factory in 2001-a bosses’ lockout. In October 2001, workers declared the plant under worker control. […] Since the occupation, the workers renamed the factory FASINPAT (Factory without a Boss).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Wikipedia page about FASINPAT<\/a> gives a nutshell history of the worker takeover. An earlier article, also by Trigona<\/a>, provides more detail about how the factory runs. Trigona definitely writes as a booster, without attempting to be objective; still, I think it’s very interesting stuff. There’s far too much to quote, but here’s a sample.<\/p>\n

At Zanon every worker is paid the same wage, with the exception of a small pay difference based on seniority, but seniority based on who withstood the old boss, firings, stand-off, and occupation.<\/p>\n

The workers at Zanon have had the most political approach to hiring workers. Today, the plant employs 473 workers, more than 230 of whom were hired after the plant came under worker control. When Zanon began to produce under worker control they hired former Zanon workers who had been fired. Later they began to divide the job openings for grass roots activists working with the unemployed (piquetero) worker organizations.<\/p>\n

Workers at Zanon have developed a coordinator system to organize production and basic functioning. Each production line forms a commission. Each commission votes on a coordinator that rotates regularly. The coordinator of the sector informs on issues, news, and conflicts within his or her sector to an assembly of coordinators. The coordinator then reports back to his or her commission news from other sectors. The workers hold weekly assemblies per shift. The factory also holds a general assembly, during which production is halted, each month.<\/p>\n

Every month the bookkeeping coordinator gives an extensive report on the income and expenditures at the plant. During the assemblies workers decide how profits should be used. One month, the assembly voted on a pay bonus for workers as the production quota goal for June, 2006 went above expectations. Workers also voted in favor of hiring 15 new workers. Who will get the job is decided on criteria based on family needs, political commitment to the struggle, and technical experience. One participant also brought up the possibility of workers rotating to explore other areas of worker management.<\/p>\n

While the factory has adapted democratic practices, many workers have found that smaller meetings have been more effective for workers to address specific concerns or volunteer ideas.<\/p>\n

Gender Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women at Zanon created a Women’s Commission (Comision de Mujeres de Zanon ) in 2004 after a national congress on gender and equality in the Coastal city of Mar del Plata. They have begun to print a newsletter, which is distributed to all 470 workers. […] One issue the workers’ assembly has still to resolve is the need for day care for children, not only for mothers but the majority of workers who are fathers as well. The Women’s Commission has organized specific activities like giving away decorative ceramic calendars in the city center, meeting with other women from social movements, and coordinating activities like a talk on domestic violence in the factory for November 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.<\/p>\n

Re-learning Production<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under worker control, no management or professional stayed at the factory. The workers not only had to re-learn the process of production but also other traditionally administrative areas like sales, book keeping, and production planning. Workers at Zanon regularly work with lawyers, accountants, and other professionals whom they trust, but the professionals don’t make decisions. The worker assembly votes on technical decisions. Professionals have provided specific skills training for workers at Zanon. However, for many of the recuperated enterprises there is a deficit of trustworthy professionals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

FASINPAT doesn’t stand alone; it’s part of a Latin American movement for worker-owned, “bossless” factories<\/a> that has been going on for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

De Geograf\u00edas e Historias<\/a> quotes an article about FASINPAT, which can be read in English here<\/a> via Google’s translator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been reading about FASINPAT, a worker-owned, democratically run ceramics factory in Argentina. From Marie Trigona: The workers at Argentina’s occupied ceramics factory FASINPAT won a major victory this week, the factory now definitively belongs to the people in legal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics-and-the-like"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}