Open Channel Editorial | lThe City Police evicted workers from the National Institute of Industrial Technology with gas and sticks who had just made a cut on General Paz Avenue based on reports of layoffs in the organization.
The scene began to set on Monday of this week, when INTI staff found the entity’s headquarters fenced off and with a strong police presencedespite the fact that no forceful measure had been proposed at that time.
The militarization of work spaces in the national state became an expected situation at the turn of the month, a moment in which the Government took the opportunity to dismiss or not renew contracts and the uniformed officers have replaced the Human Resources office in the role of notifying those who lose their jobs.
Yes I had planned for today an assembly in which the claim for the threat of dismissals that would affect 30% of the entity’s plant and the non-renewal of some 300 monotributistas contracts was discussed. In addition, the threat of closure of the 25 regional headquarters hangs over INTI.
“We had a series of measures last week and we understand that out of fear that these measures will advance, this entire operation appears on Monday. We didn’t have any measures. We understand that they may have made a mistake or the information may have reached them incorrectly because we had planned the measure for today, Wednesday, when from the INTI Internal Board we called an assembly and proposed the cutting of General Paz,” he told Open Channel Erica Dolman, delegate of the ATE-INTI Internal Board.
The repression was unleashed within the framework of negotiations with the group, when the security forces advanced with gas and beatings on the protesters in order to clear the avenue. When the workers returned, the police deployed to escort them with shields until they were once again bordering the organization’s headquarters. There the motorized division was added.
“It is a photo that is making the rounds that Patricia Bullrich uploaded to their networks in which all the police go and we on the inside give a message that they have established order. But clearly he did not upload the photo that shows that we were in General Paz for more than an hour and a half,” said the delegate.
The episode did not leave any arrests, although some workers were injured.. However, Dolman noted that “this measure had a very good effect on all the colleagues who They lost their fear in the face of this anti-picket protocol. They want to impose on us all the time that if you go out to protest you will not be able to or you will be repressed. And although the repression existed, the INTI workers resisted because we understand that our class has historically managed to conquer rights and now to defend them is with these direct actions.”
He also referred to the importance of the INTi and the implications that its reduction or closure could have: “we understand that With a 30% cut there would be no institution leftWithout workers in their jobs, there are lines of work that are lost and in fact, there is an absent state in a lot of situations. We are talking about the INTI being an organization of science and technology, control, development and technological innovation.
“We are the ones who guarantee quality control from the walls of your house that do not collapse because the cement factory has to go through the INTI to the plastic of a bottle that our boys and girls use.. So we understand that firing workers who do that job is attacking an entire society, because If the INTI stops carrying out the control, imagine that we are going to be in serious trouble as a people. A present state ceases to exist. Today this situation of State yes or State no and that the market monopolizes everything is highly debated. We say that at INTI not only anyone and that every job and every line of work has to be defended,” he concluded.
