Yellow union head Momo Venegas' cronies dismantle National Farm Workers Registry in Argentina.
The new authorities of Argentina's National Registry of Agricultural Workers and Employers (RENATEA), Ramón Ayala and Ranulfo Bazán, have announced the dismissal of 630 of its 900 labor inspectors. The bureaus being dismantled within the agency include the public prosecutors' liaison office, which reported and helped prosecute cases of peonage and child labor, as well as the office of rural economic and social research.
Both Ayala and Bazán are subordinates of the longtime head of the Argentine Union of Farm Workers and Stevedores (UATRE), Gerónimo "Momo" Venegas. Venegas, who has headed the UATRE union since 1993 and directed the predecessor agency RENATRE from 1999 to 2011, was known for his hand-off approach to labor law enforcement. Not a single case of human trafficking or child labor was "corroborated" by RENATRE during his tenure, and the agency had a backlog of over 50 million pesos ($12 million, at the time) in uncollected fines by 2011. Under Venegas, agency mandates such as auditing, the collection of fines, and inspectors' training were outsourced to private companies. RENATRE, moreover, was run by a board controlled by Argentina's large agricultural lobbies: the Argentine Rural Society, CRA, FAA, and Coninagro - the very groups RENATRE was tasked to regulate.
Venegas' dismissal by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner made the one-time Argentine Anticommunist Alliance operative an outspoken opponent of her administration, and in 2015 he endorsed right-wing candidate Mauricio Macri (who narrowly won).
Following Venegas' dismissal and the creation of RENATEA as part of the 2011 Agricultural Labor Law, the agency tripled its inspection staff from 300 to 900, and registered over 120,000 farm workers and 9,500 employers who had previously avoided not only labor regulations but taxes and social security contributions. The percentage of registered farm workers in Argentina thus doubled from 42% in 2011, to 84% in 2015.
Labor law abuses, which were largely overlooked by Venegas, resulted in 16 criminal cases involving over 1,000 victims of farm peonage and child labor within three years after the agency was revamped. One case involves 40 victims found in a Misiones Province field owned by former Senator Ramón Puerta, who was appointed Ambassador to Spain by President Macri.
The Argentine Supreme Court, however, declared the new agency unconstitutional, and its dismantling was actually included in Macri's 2015 electoral platform. "We are committed to respecting the ruling of the Supreme Court," the agency's new director Ramón Ayala declared. "Two articles in the Agricultural Labor Law were declared unconstitutional, including the one that created this agency. This ruling orders Congress to reinstate RENATRE, and we are trying to return to the previous state. Today there are nearly 900 highly politicized employees."
Ayala is familiar with the "previous state" at the agency. Following an arrest on charges of raping one of his farm laborers in 2005, and a failed bid for a seat in the Buenos Aires Provincial Legislature as a right-wing Peronist, Ayala was hired by Venegas in twin UATRE and RENATRE posts that by 2011 earned him a combined salary and benefits package of over 600,000 pesos ($140,000 at the time).
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This news shines a light in a new area, outing more unbelievable vileness.
They seem to have an evil attitude toward everyone unlucky enough to have been born without access to power. They need to start reaping the consequences of their actions as soon as possible.
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Gerónimo "Momo" Venegas with his friend, Mauricio Macri.
Ernesto Ramón Ayala
Ranulfo Bazán [/center]
Rough, ugly crew, aren't they?
