Twenty-three workers from the Puma company were dismissed in recent hours at the plant the company has in La Rioja, and the shoe union Uticra is on alert for the possibility that this number will increase in the coming days, as union sources mentioned.
Some employees at the Puma plant received dismissal notices upon returning from their vacations, which raised greater concern about job stability. There is fear among workers that dismissals may continue to rise, according to the same sources.
In November 2021, Puma announced the addition of two new production lines to its factory in La Rioja, joining the three lines established in the first half of the previous year. By the end of 2021, the company reached a historic record of two million shoes produced annually in Argentina and had around 500 employees, according to business sources.
The footwear industry is affected by the decrease in consumption in the domestic market and difficulties in exporting due to the current exchange rate, which in many cases reduces competitiveness to conquer new foreign markets.
Recently, the Dass group factory in Coronel Suárez, province of Buenos Aires, closed its doors, leaving about 360 workers unemployed. On the other hand, the Bicontinentar plant in Chivilcoy dismissed 130 of its 170 employees.
The Union of Workers in the Footwear Industry (Uticra) has stated that it is on alert and, so far, has managed to ensure that the dismissed workers receive compensation, but has not been able to prevent the layoffs.
