The plants, with great capacity and specialization, carried out design, molding, tailoring, printing, embroidery, applique and finishing tasks and produced for large brands, such as Grisino, Cristóbal Colón and Cheeky.
According to AOT delegates, the employees were informed that they were being given 48 hours of rest, a situation that raised doubts and forced workers to stand guard in front of the plants.
Both the union and the Labor Secretariats of both provinces had previously intervened in the conflict because the companies came with arrears in salary payments.
The employees themselves They observed movements during the night in the two factories and they reported this situation to the AOT and called themselves together, fearing that the machines would be taken away.
In La Rioja, where there were 143 layoffs, a provincial delegate of the Union of Clothing and Related Industry Workers (SOIVA), reported that they made the complaint to prevent an attempt to extract machines and materials. The Secretary of Labor, Myriam Espinosa, indicated that the owners attribute the closures to a sharp drop in sales.
For its part, in Catamarca the takeover of the factory by the 124 dismissed workers continues, even at night, while there is a police guard at the doors.
The Directorate of Labor Inspection (DIL) of Catamarca prepared the closing minutes, key documentation for the textile and clothing unions to demand payment of lost wages and 100% of compensation.
According to a survey carried out by the Protejer Foundation, 87% of companies in the textile sector registered a drop in sales in the first two months of this year. In addition, the firms consulted indicated that they had a 35% decline in demand. Almost all of them attribute this dynamic to the loss of the population’s purchasing power.
The fall in sales of textiles is accompanied by a rise in prices: in the first three months of the year, the item accumulated an increase of 33% against the accumulated 51.6%, while in March it rose 11%.
In 2023, clothing rose 169% against an inflation of 210%; while in 2022 it had grown 120.8% against a general increase of 94.8%.
