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Alert! Critical Day for Bauen Hotel Workers

Help save a living alternative. Your emails are making a palpable difference.

On Tuesday, December 6, the legislature of the city of Buenos Aires will consider a bill that would wrench control of the Bauen Hotel from the workers cooperative that has been running it democratically since March 2003, and hand it back to the owners of the business, who abandoned it in December 2001.

The Bauen is a four star hotel that has become the informal living room/meeting place of the movement of recovered companies in Argentina, and as such has been targeted by right wing politicians in the city legislature of Buenos Aires for eviction.

Last week, right wing legislators attempted to pass the law , but the 120 Bauen Hotel workers converged on the legislature with a large crowd of supporters. They presented to the lawmakers copies of a petition in  support of their cause, signed by Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, Eduardo Galeano, and more than 5,000 other people from more than 70 countries.

To sign the petition, visit http://www.petitiononline.com/bauen/petition.html.

In the end, the legislature did not sit, due to a lack of quorum (in other words, a successful mobilization!) But on Tuesday, this regressive piece of legislation is at the top of the agenda.

On behalf of the Bauen Workers, their supporters around the world, and the thousands of workers in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America who have created democratic employment under worker control in the ruins of the neoliberal 1990s, we urge you to send the following letter to President  Nestor Kirchner (privada@presidencia.gov.ar) and Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez anibalfernandez@infovia.com.ar.

Many thanks,

The International Support Campaign for the Workers of the Bauen Hotel

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Dear President Nestor Kirchner (or Minister of the Interior Anibal
Fernandez),

We demand that you immediately take all necessary measures to stop the  attack on the workers who have recovered the Bauen Hotel and pass a definitive and permanent law that recognizes them for what they are: the  rightful owners.

Sincerely,
Your name

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Señor Presidente Néstor Kirchner (o Señor Ministro del Interior Aníbal Fernandez),

Exigimos que en forma urgente disponga las medidas necesarias para que cese el ataque a los trabajadores que recuperaron el Hotel Bauen y se apruebe una ley definitiva y permanente que los consagre como lo que son: sus legítimos dueños.

Saluda atentamente,
Tu nombre

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To receive updates and alerts in English or Spanish related to this and
other worker-run companies in Argentina, send an email to cerlac2@yorku.ca

 with the title "zanon English" or "zanon Spanish".

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Don't forget to sign the petition in support of the Zanon workers:
http://www.petitiononline.com/zanon/petition.html

And in support of the Hotel Bauen workers:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bauen/petition.html

For updates and articles see http://www.thetake.org