“We notify that, as the establishment closes, we are terminating their services as of 1/20/2025. Final settlement and compensation will be deposited in a timely manner in their respective salary accounts.” So says the message that reached 360 footwear workers on the first day of the year.
The telegram is signed by the human resources management of the Dass Group. The company, with Argentine and Brazilian capital, is the manufacturer of the main sports footwear brands in the world, including Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, Umbro, Fila, Asics, among others.
The sign at the entrance gate is quite ironic: “New year, new times, new challenges.” Today it is closed.
In recent years, Dass had grown its sales phenomenally, manufacturing nearly 3 million pairs annually at its plants in Coronel Suárez and El Dorado (Misiones). The profits were so obscene that last year we showed that while a pair of Nike Air Force 01 cost 114 thousand pesos, category A workers earned 126 thousand pesos per month. The same value as one of the hundreds of pairs he made per month.
Dass became famous for monopolizing the high-end market. Today a Nike Force is 260 thousand pesos, but the Air Vapormax exceeds 450 thousand pesos. Adidas has several models above 300 thousand pesos, such as the Adizero and the Terrex.
On the other hand, the UITCRA joint agreement left the value of the hour per operator at 3,029 pesos and the monthly average is 550 thousand pesos. In addition, there are daily workers, monthly workers, part-time workers and home workers. All with different values.
Dass is not an “SME in trouble.” It is one of the main companies in the sector throughout the continent, with plants in Argentina and Brazil. Its president is Vilson Hermes, a Brazilian businessman. But the “brain” of the company is H. Brian Handley, brand manager throughout South America and also a director of CitiBank. His family was linked to famous banking maneuvers and scams with Raúl Moneta during Menemism.
In recent years, Handley commanded a series of blackmails that allowed him to take advantage of the State and its workers. After announcing suspensions at its plants, it negotiated with the Fernández and Massa government for dollars and supplies, as well as agreements with the union for the value of the suspensions.
A vulture.
Now that he wants to continue selling sneakers at exorbitant prices in a country in crisis, with the middle classes and workers consuming what is essential, he stops making a little money and now unloads the crisis on those who make his plants operate.
It is not the only case. In Bicontinentar (Chivilcoy) the workers held protests and camps against salary debts and layoffs. There were also attacks in Topper (Tucumán) and other companies in the sector. The Textilcom workers, in the clothing sector, occupied the company to guard the machines and defend their positions. Today they returned to work and face the attacks of the new employers but from within.
Let the businessmen who amassed fortunes pay for the crisis. They are the fortunes of the vultures or the bread of the class that makes this world run. We must demand that companies open the accounting books of recent years. The left has a way out in the face of massive layoffs and closures: occupy the companies, to put them into production under workers’ management, demanding nationalization or the purchase of production for the thousands of boys and girls who walk in poverty.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
