Sugar Hill Kevis
11th May 2007, 17:27
http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,,2077140,00.html
^ includes pictures
Here's the chocolate factory, but where has Willy Wonka gone?
No bosses in sight at plants taken over by ex-employees in new workers' revolution
From the outside it is a nondescript industrial site in a drab suburb of Buenos Aires, the firm's logo barely visible. Inside, the first thing you notice is the smell of chocolate, honey, caramel, ice cream, cakes and jam. Machines hum while cheerful men in green overalls pack crates of confectionary.
The second thing you notice is the absence of bosses. There are no people in suits giving orders. They do not exist. Nor is there an official owner. Ghelco is run as a cooperative along democratic lines, with an equal say and equal pay.
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Marx urged workers to break their metaphorical chains but here they do it literally, breaking the chains and locks of their former workplaces, turning on the lights and restarting machines. Some 200 enterprises, from hotels to car parts factories, have started in this way, and now employ more than 15,000 people.
^ includes pictures
Here's the chocolate factory, but where has Willy Wonka gone?
No bosses in sight at plants taken over by ex-employees in new workers' revolution
From the outside it is a nondescript industrial site in a drab suburb of Buenos Aires, the firm's logo barely visible. Inside, the first thing you notice is the smell of chocolate, honey, caramel, ice cream, cakes and jam. Machines hum while cheerful men in green overalls pack crates of confectionary.
The second thing you notice is the absence of bosses. There are no people in suits giving orders. They do not exist. Nor is there an official owner. Ghelco is run as a cooperative along democratic lines, with an equal say and equal pay.
----------------
Marx urged workers to break their metaphorical chains but here they do it literally, breaking the chains and locks of their former workplaces, turning on the lights and restarting machines. Some 200 enterprises, from hotels to car parts factories, have started in this way, and now employ more than 15,000 people.