arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Aereolineas Argentinas over strike! Needs help!
by cmi-argentina Thursday May 31, 2001 at 05:08 PM
solidaridadareolineas@hotmail.com

Text: Sebastian Hacer Traduction Enzo Le Fevre

Important conflict in Aereolineas Argentinas, needs international support.
The Spanish Government empty Aereolineas Argentinas; The workers fight for it.

The employees of Aereolinas Argentinas are striking since 20 days against the Spanish Government and the SEPI (State Society for industrial participation in Spain). Since two months the society does not pay any salary, and now it's threatening to close, leaving around 7000 families in the street and to the country without the country's airline.
The Spanish Government refuses to pay because the technical workers, nucleated in APTA, do not accept the reduction of the salaries and the flexibility of theirs working conditions.
The remonstrations, that began with a eight days strike with the dismissals, continue with massive mobilisations, taking some buildings and blocking the landing-field, delaying and cancelling Iberia flights, the Spanish airline, and of other airlines. Since the protest began the workers have been setting up some "Worker Camps" in the metropolitan airport and in the international one of Ezeiza.
The Spanish Government controls even the Argentinean oil and communications companies, and has got a lot of influence in the financial loans that increase the external debt of the country. What they are doing with Aereolineas did already worked with the Venezuelan's airline VIASA, that has been empty, brought to failure and sold out to others companies or absorbed by Iberia.
Since the privatisation of the Argentinean airline, 10 years ago, the SEPI-Iberia and the Spanish Government have done a systematic unemployment of the enterprise, solding out the majority of the resources. Between them almost all the aeroplanes (from 66 in 1991 to 1 at the moment), the totality of the buildings and the flight simulators. The majority of the air routes was absorbed by Iberia and half of the employees has been sent home, leaving 5000 people without a work.
Yesterday the SEPI gave an ultimatum to the workers to accept the reduction of the salaries and the flexibility of theirs working conditions to avoid the broke of the enterprise.
But the workers, that count with the solidarity of the Argentinean people, began to realise different actions as the occupation of some buildings of the enterprise, strikes and the block of some landing-fields delaying the fights of other companies.
The Argentinean Government did only gave more money to the Spanish, giving 16 millions dollars that were not use to pay the salaries, and denounce penal the group of workers that did not sign the pact for the reduction of the salaries. Since the conflict began, the Argentinean Government have been working for the Spanish as it was during the worst years of the colonisation. Destroying not only the Aereolineas Argentinas and the work of thousands of people but even the future of the natural resources and communications of the country that are in the hand of some plunders.
The employees of Aereolineas Argentinas are trying to built, together with students and groups of different workers some activities of solidarity, collecting money for the strike.
It was asked for pronunciations and solidarity actions to everybody that think that this is a good and fair cause and that it's necessary to stop the robbery that the Spanish Government is making over the people of Argentina.
You can send any information about global actions for the Aereolineas employees to: solidaridadaereolineas@hotmail.com .

To follow day by day the protest you can search in: http://www.argentina.indymedia.org (in Spanish)