Abstract

ALVAREZ, Gonzalo PÉREZ. Labour conditions and worker strategies of Aluar workers (Puerto Madryn - Chubut - 1974-2017). Trab. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.21, n.34, pp.171-180. ISSN 1514-6871.

This article analyses the formation of a specific workers' collective in the city of Puerto Madryn, Chubut Province. The company Aluar (Aluminio Argentino S.A.) is the only primary aluminium producer in Argentina, and the most advanced technology factory in the Patagonian región. Its production started in 1974 and since the 90s the work process in the plant was modified, advancing in forms of precarization and labour flexibilization. This refitted a key problem in this company: the bad and dangerous working conditions and the health risks to its workers. The denunciations of ex-workers who today suffer serious illnesses, and a labour tragedy in which eleven outsourced workers died in the expansion tasks of 2007, made this situation evident.

In terms of sources, is developed a systematic record of journalistic publications of the region and of left political parties. Another type of archive was also built, based on the production of oral sources: the interviews constituted a vital source to recognize the practices used by the employers in order to attack the processes of workers' organization.

Keywords : workers; labour conditions; workers strategies; Chubut.