Photo Courtesy of Prensa Obreros Zanon While many workers around
the world are worried about downsizing, lay-offs and how to
protect their jobs, workers in Argentina have come up with their
own solution to business closures – Occupy, Resist and Produce.
Many factories, like the Zanon Ceramics plant, have been running
without bosses for almost a decade. In response to a financial
crisis in 2001 that wrecked Argentina’s economy, workers decided
to occupy their workplaces and start up production without
bosses in order to safe-guard their jobs. Zanon Ceramics, now
known as FASINPAT (Factory without a boss), has re-defined the
basis of production: without workers, bosses are unable to run
businesses; without bosses, workers can do it better. As the
largest recuperated factory in Argentina, and occupied since
2001, the Zanon ceramics plant in the Patagonian province of
Neuquén now employs 470 workers. This month, the FASINPAT
collective is a step closer in winning permanent control of the
factory. The provincial g