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The ZSP expresses its support of Sergio Monte and other workers in Bar Unico in Buenos Aires. Bar Unico does not pay its staff well and hires people to work semi-legally, making them dependent on extra payments and the whims of the boss. Those who are not indifferent to the problems of their fellow workers or stay quiet risk losing their jobs like comrade Monte.

Our sister union, FORA from Argentina organized a campaign for the reinstatement of the comrade and better working conditions for the staff. As a result, the comrade is charged with coercion and making insults against the boss.

This is just another example of the attempted criminalization of worker protest, an attempt by the powerful to intimidate workers who think of organizing and taking action to improve their situation.

We completely support the demand for the immediate reinstatement of comrade Sergio Monte and the labour stability of the workers of the bar. We wish strength to the comrade in this time and to the comrades of FORA and the Gastronomic Workers Group.

ZSP-IWA

Below we reprint the statement of FORA-AIT.

Drop the Charges against Comrade Sergio Monte

Adding one more case to the escalation of repression that has been carried out by the state in recent years, which seeks a criminalization of social protest, three colleagues from the FORA were charged after a labor dispute, one of which faces a criminal trial for "coercion."

During the month of April 2011 a conflict developed against the owner of the bar Único, Nicolás Beccar Varela, through the SROV Capital (affiliated to FORA) who were demanding the reinstatement of a sacked colleague.

A year after the conflict ended, comrade Sergio Monte is being prosecuted in a criminal case that ignores the context of the trade union dispute and its legitimate claims, demonstrating once again the ease with which they try to scare those who are not willing to bow down to the arrogance of the bosses. They accuse organized workers of coercion, when the employes coerce every day, pressuring us to accept miserable working conditions in return for starvation wages and when we are no longer useful, we are arbitrarily fired and they expect us to be silent about the abuses . Mr. Nicolás Beccar is not content with just exploiting, dismissing and scorning a worker, but also seeks to deprive him of his most basic rights through an abusive and arrogant accusation.

The groundless case, with false witnesses, accuses the comrade of coercion and making insults such as "slave driver or exploiter," words that never left the mouth of Monte Sergio, but from the FORA. We stand by them and scream them out loud, because in the case of Mr. Beccar, it is not an insult but the sad reality, because those who abuse their workers by paying a pittance do not merit any other description.

For this reason, the F.O.R.A. demands that charges be dropped against our colleague and we call for solidarity from other organizations. The threats and accusations will never stop us and we will not stop until Sergio Monte and all the workers are acquitted without charges.

Organize and Fight against the laws and their interests!

Federación Obrera Regional Argentina