A Commerce worker contacted La Izquierda Diario to report the case of her dismissal. Laura (we use a pseudonym) is 32 years old and since she was 24 she worked in the Isadora accessories company. Without any argument, knowing that she is a breadwinner and mother of a barely 2-year-old girl, the company fired her.
Isadora is part of the Blue Star Group, to which Todo Moda also belongs. “An empire of accessories,” the Clarín newspaper called it. According to its website, it has a presence in 8 countries (including Peru, Mexico, the United States), more than 800 branches in the world, 25 million annual clients, 4,000 “talents” (the way they call their workers) and the objective of expanding its market to a total of 60 countries by 2028.
In 2021, according to Forbes Magazine, The Blue Star Group had a turnover of 150 million dollars between the markets of Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Chile and Brazil. “The axis of our strategy: any point of contact with the company is an opportunity to demonstrate that we are thinking about the best for the client,” said the group’s CEO, Martin Castellito that same medium in an interview.
It is curious to see how the businessman refers to the women for whom the more than 12 thousand products offered by Isadora and Todo Moda are designed. They seek, he assures, the comfort of their clients.. But, How does the Blue Star Group treat its workers?
“My job was to do IVM, which means Insort Visual Merchandising. I was a glass artist, but since my store was small, I also had to serve the public, collect payments, manage E-Commerce, take the deposit and clean the bathroom. I worked first for 5 years in La Plata and then in a place in the south of the Conurbano, but sometimes they called me to go to places in CABA. I also worked on holidays because my situation is complicated,” Laura tells La Izquierda Diario, adding that her job was as a commercial salesperson, grouped under the union under Armando Cavalieri.
During the pandemic, Laura went to work the same way, until got pregnant. Then they sent her home, earning half the salary. She asked to work from home because she couldn’t afford to live, and so he worked until he had his baby. “Now I live alone with my daughter and I rent a small apartment, dining room-kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom. But My rent increased double and my apartment is flooded“I’m losing furniture because of the flood,” he says. And he says he has to move in the next few weeks: “Last month they paid me around 400 thousand pesos and this month I earned less than 380 thousand pesos. To get into the rental I needed 390 thousand, they didn’t give me the accounts, I had to ask for money.”
After 8 years of service, she was fired in early April. “My life is a mess right now. They kicked me out knowing that I have a 2-year-old daughter and that I am the breadwinner., that’s my anger. “What makes you wait a while longer for me to stabilize?” He asks angrily. And he mentions that the company continues to maintain its profits, that there are stores that They reach monthly sales goals of almost 70 million pesos.
“The situation in my family is horrible. My daughter’s father is a municipal employee and they reduced his overtime. Two months ago he was earning 150 thousand pesos. Imagine that later on the 15th he was earning 100 thousand pesos more than the overtime. But since Milei took over they have been reduced. He gives me 30% for the baby, but it’s 40 thousand pesos, it’s not enough,” says Laura.
“Isadora has been firing people since July“They are hiring more or less two per month, people with 22 years of experience, 16 years of work in the company,” he denounces, and says that in February of this year They kicked out the entire team from the premises in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Telmo. “My colleagues support me, they are all very angry. The day they fired me they also fired another colleague, we are in communication with her.”
A joint attack
Despite the situation you are experiencing, Laura knows that her case is similar to that of thousands of other workers: “It’s part of the process we’re going through. When they kicked me out, they kicked out many people from the State. I couldn’t watch TV, I broke down that day when I found out“The attack on state workers meant 15 thousand layoffs in different ministries and the closure of agencies, most of them in interior provinces. The Milei government anticipated that it is just the beginning, and that the intention is to reach 70 thousand layoffs in the State. A plan that has already begun, in addition, with layoffs in GPS-Aerolíneas, with budget cuts in Public TV, voluntary retirements in Télam, among others.
But seeing this, The employers of private companies take advantage. “When I go to the union after I get fired, I meet people from Coto. A girl told me what they are doing like in the State: the security stands at the door with the list saying who can enter“says Laura, and she regrets not having been able to get the girl’s phone number to keep in touch. “For me the union should have at least made a mess in the Coto, which has been throwing out a lot of people,” she points out. “But when I I was They were laughing their asses off, and they didn’t do anything, that’s my anger too.“.
Armando Cavalieri, union leader of the Commerce union that brings together 1.2 million workers and is the largest in the country, has just closed an agreement with the employers for a fixed sum of 40 thousand pesos in March, and a joint agreement that it implies an increase of 8% in April and 7% in May. The numbers do not close anywhere: inflation in February was 13.2% and that in March, according to the optimism of the Minister of Economy himself, Luis Caputoit will be around 10%.
I’m not going to stay calm
“I recently went to the protests against the Omnibus Law. I was also in the 8M, since my baby is a little older, I can start participating,” he explains. And he says: “In 2018 I had a boyfriend who died working in a factory. The case of Mechi Cantero. “I was there during the mobilization, but I was very bad, I was medicated.”
Brian “Mechi” Cantero was a 24-year-old young man who worked outsourced in a paper mill for the Sein company in Florencio Varela. He died trapped by a machine. His family carried out a tireless fight that ended with the conviction of the Head of Production and the person responsible for Safety and Hygiene, and continues to demand justice for all the deaths due to job insecurity. “You got a lot of notes, that’s why I looked for you as now as an alternative medium,” explains Laura.
“I said now: ‘I’m not going to stay calm.’ It makes me angry that they are kicking out people, mothers with children, it makes you indignant because they are leaving families without food. I thank you for listening to me, thank you for making this situation visible.” .
Let’s join the fight
Laura’s case is a concrete example of the situation that thousands of families in the country are going through.. From the true face of companies, which behind merchandising that sells a fashionable “lifestyle”, fire people and leave families on the streets without a means to live. That they feel emboldened, now that one of the richest businessmen in the country, Paolo Rocca, holds positions in different key points of the government, such as the Secretary of Labor, after putting 20 million pesos for Milei’s electoral campaign. While the CGT union bureaucracy is not carrying out any serious plan of struggle at the level of the attack we are experiencing. As Lucho Aguilar says today in Ideas de Izquierda, the premise of the union centers is: “If they touch one, defend themselves separately.”
But there are symptoms of resistance. Like the state ones, who carried out assemblies, strikes and occupations of ministries against layoffs. Like the GPS-Aerolíneas aeronautical workers, who have been promoting days of struggle in the airport and coordinating with different sectors. Like the press workers in Télam, who are camping at the agency’s headquarters and extending support to their fight against the emptying. These are just a few cases that show how much force there is to stop Milei’s adjustment and her accomplices.
That’s why we have to organize the fight, because if they touch one, we all have to answer. From La Izquierda Diario we ask that you also send us your comments, tell us your situation. You can write to our networks and get in touch with us.
We invite you to join the neighborhood assemblies that are taking place throughout the country. Look for your co-worker, your classmate, your neighbors.
And for you to participate in the Workers’ Meeting, popular assemblies and all the fighters to take place in the coming weeks.
Together, we have the strength it takes to change the course of history.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
