Among those fired by the multinational are Gustavo Michel and Fernando Luna. They are dismissals without cause and without notification via telegram, since they were intercepted by security personnel at the goal. This action shows a strong attack on workers’ rights, since these are worker activists who faced layoffs, demands for union democracy and for the rights of oil workers in the face of a company that fires and pollutes while amassing multimillion-dollar fortunes.
Dock Sud’s Shell distillery is currently operated by Raizen. In 2018 Shell sold its downstream package (final phase of the oil supply chain) in Argentina to Raízen, a joint venture made up of Shell and the Brazilian conglomerate Cosan. This sale was part of a divestment strategy by Shell to focus on oil extraction, especially projects such as Vaca Muerta. Not only is it a company that is very far from experiencing economic losses or crisis, but it has been investing in the construction of new plants.
As background, the distillery has faced multiple labor conflicts. In 2020, during the pandemic, Shell-Raízen laid off essential workers, sparking protests and allegations of unfair labor practices. The company was accused of not respecting safety protocols and persecuting workers who demanded better conditions
In January 2024, a fire caused by lightning at the refinery revealed the flaws in safety conditions. This is not the first time incidents of this type have occurred: in 2021 a worker suffered serious burns due to an explosion, and in 2018 another worker died in a fire during maintenance work. Two of the workers fired this week are brigade members and performed tasks intervening in dozens of these incidents, to preserve the physical integrity of their colleagues.
I call on union, student, human rights and neighborhood organizations to surround this fight with solidarity. Layoffs will not happen! #NoALosDespidos #Solidarity #LaborRights
— Gustavo Michel (@Michel_gus) January 14, 2025
Fernando Luna has been an oil worker for almost 20 years, and is an activist and union leader who won a fight against the Shell company and was reinstated to his job after being fired a decade ago. He received the support of teachers, railway workers, Coca Cola delegates and the leadership of the Community Health Student Center of the National University of Lanús, as well as the lawyers of the Center of Professionals for Human Rights (CeProDH), among them Myriam Bregman . For his part, Gustavo Michel has worked at the Shell distillery in Dock Sud for more than 16 years. He was fired in 2014 by then Energy Minister (and former CEO of Shell) Aranguren, but in 2016, after two years of struggle, he was reinstated in his job, which was considered a triumph for the workers and a setback for the company and Aranguren.
It is necessary to surround with solidarity and accompany the fight for the reinstatement of the colleagues dismissed from Shell, who called on all workers, social, political, student organizations, neighborhood assemblies, and Human Rights organizations to do so and join the other attacked sectors. such as retirees, colleagues from the National Human Rights Secretariat, from Pilkington and Praxair, among others, against the layoff policy that the employers’ associations that try to apply the fraudulent Base Law that facilitates arbitrary dismissals.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
