BUENOS AIRES - Even today, memories of the death spiral of this steel pipe plant during Argentina's 2001 financial collapse are almost as vivid to employees as its surprising rebirth as a worker-run cooperative.
Alejandro Coronel, the pony-tailed secretary of the Constituyentes Workers' Cooperative, recalls the ''terrible sound of silence'' as workers sat idle for five months in the cavernous plant.
There was nothing to do but sit. With one in four Argentine workers unemployed, there were no jobs elsewhere.
In an unusual twist, the steel workers themselves took charge of operations of the failing company after convincing lawmakers in the province of Buenos Aires to expropriate the factory at the end of 2002. Today the factory once called Ignacio Wasserman SA is operating six days a week as a workers cooperative.
One hundred workers, including 40 rehired since 2003, produce 6,000 tons of steel pipe a month. The pay is roughly $480 a month, for everyone from the union president to the former accountant, who took a giant pay cut to remain at his job.
The idea of workers bringing idle factories back to production is the brainchild of Luis Alberto Caro, a Buenos Aires lawyer who heads the National Movement of Factories Recovered by Workers.
REVIVING FACTORIES
''I was seeing all these cemeteries of factories, these hulks of plants,'' said Caro, once a merchant marine who worked on an Argentine oil tanker that delivered crude oil to South Florida. ''I thought it was important to protect people's jobs,'' he said.
Since 2000, Caro has helped restart 58 factories, newspapers and other firms, employing a total of 5,000 workers. With the economy starting to perk up again, factory owners have restarted hundreds of other enterprises, but some 5,000 Argentine factories closed during the economic crisis remain shuttered.
Like many a rust-belt story, this tale began when the factory in Villa Martelli, just north of Buenos Aires, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in 2000. With the recession eroding sales and debt rising, owner Ignacio Wasserman was strapped for cash even as he laid off workers.
The factory's workforce dwindled from 250 workers to 60. Those remaining workers still showed up every day, hoping for severance pay, or better yet, to get the production lines moving again.
As the economic situation worsened in 2001, the steel workers began reading the business pages, in addition to their favored sports section. That was how they learned about Caro and contacted him for help.
LEARNING THE TRADE
No one at the plant had ever done more than balance a checkbook, or ever handled payroll, accounting and purchasing for a company that boasted cutting-edge technology when its new location was inaugurated by former President Carlos Menem in 1994.
''We just couldn't imagine it. It took some convincing,'' Coronel, the cooperative's secretary, admitted.
As rioting and looting brought down the Argentine government at Christmas time 2001, the workers first signed an agreement with Wasserman to run the factory.
Union members had the utilities restored and obtained orders from their largest customer, Tubos Argentinos. They even went to the local grocery store and pleaded for credit to purchase food for a Christmas dinner.
''We don't have to do that anymore,'' said Pascual Nieva, president of the cooperative. The business is able to cut costs because employees do not pay themselves bonuses or profits. But money is still tight.
At the end of 2002, the provincial government carried out the expropriation and the workers took complete control in March 2003. ''Everyone has received training in finances because this now belongs to all of us,'' Coronel said.
Sometimes previous owners challenge the government's right to take possession of their factories without paying for them. Caro insists he is not advocating anything illegal. ''We are against the takeover of factories. What we do is use the law to recover them,'' he said.
Like many others, the steel pipe plant is the subject of a legal tug of war. The workers want to buy the factory from the province. The Wasserman family insists it is still the legal owner and demanded in an October 2003 lawsuit that the province of Buenos Aires pay for the expropriation.
DEMANDING PAYMENT
''It would be impossible to force out the workers,'' said Alan Wasserman, the son of the owner, or former owner, depending on who is telling the story. ``But until the provincial government pays us the indemnification, the factory continues to belong to us.''
Wasserman said his family had not abandoned the factory and had a legally approved bankruptcy protection agreement worked out with creditors.
The workers, meanwhile, claim they're owed five months of back pay while the factory was idled. Wasserman said they were paid up to date.
So far the provincial government has not intervened to end the legal impasse.
But for now, the workers say they are proud and grateful to have jobs. Work is the key to staving off poverty, an ever-present image in the workers' minds.
''To lose your job was like missing the train altogether,'' said Nieva. ``That was the Argentina the last government gave us. I hope it never happens again.''