IMPA - The First Recovered Factory (Swiss Stories 2014, by Christian Bobst) - Swiss Press Award

IMPA - The First Recovered Factory

Christian Bobst

In Almagro, a densely populated district of Buenos Aires, lies the factory building of Industria Metalúrgico y Plástica Argentina, or IMPA for short. It was the first factory in Argentina to be occupied by workers after its bankruptcy and, after legal wrangling, returned to the workforce a year later. Work resumed in part of the facility. However, the workforce shrank from the 500 employees of the 1960s to the current 60. They work independently and primarily produce aluminum foil and tubes on outdated and breakdown-prone machinery. In 2001, after the collapse of the Argentine economy in the wake of the debt crisis, over 200 companies in Argentina followed IMPA's example, and the "Fábricas Recuperadas" movement was born.