Solidarity Economy in Argentina
Case Study
Ilcheong Yi, Fulvia Farinelli, and Raymond Landveld:
"Emergence of Argentinean SSE is in parallel with the formation of the working class at the end of the 19th century. Immigrant workers from Spain and Italy, many of whom had been involved with communist and socialist movements and unions, established mutuals, mutual aid societies, benevolent societies, and renters’ associations, to better meet the urban workers’ needs. In rural areas, cooperatives organized by small farmers emerged as a way to cope with larger, more powerful companies. These SSEOEs sought not only to address problems affecting the livelihoods but also to attain social recognition and mobilize the masses politically, such as the case of justicialismo during the era of Peronism. Dramatic growth of cooperative movement in the last half of 20th century continued in the 2000s, and expanded from rural to urban areas, mainly in the form of worker cooperatives due to the employment issues of the neoliberal regime.
Some cooperatives became bureaucratic and lacking in principles, while new collective actions and new social movement around the principles and visions of SSE, such as worker-recuperated enterprises (empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores, ERTs which occupy their workplaces and make them productive again), emerged. The Kirchner government established various public policies to support SSE financially and politically as well as social movements to reduce the unemployment rate, making the number of cooperatives increase nine times in the decade between 2001 and 2010. Although these policies were favourable to the SSE sector, the strength of top-down initiatives is uncertain as cooperatives lost their radical aspect in exchange for economic and technical assistance, which leaves cooperatives vulnerable to political decisions."
(https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/social_and_solidarity_economy_29_march_2023.pdf)
Policy
"Policies of local governments, in particular governments of big cities such as Buenos Aires, became a significant factor to determine the potential and nature of SSEOEs. For instance, in December 2020, during the confinement period introduced against the COVID pandemic, the City of Buenos Aires (CABA) adopted a "Law for the Promotion of the Social Economy in the City of Buenos Aires” (Law 6.376), under the auspices of the local Ministry of Human Development and Habitat. Its aim is to generate genuine income sources and employment opportunities for SSE productive units, which are expected to become an important driver of inclusion, social justice and sustainable development in Buenos Aires."
To this purpose, four key support measures have been introduced:
1. Tax exemptions for SSE enterprises.
2. A dedicated credit line at Banco Ciudad for public purchases.
3. Preferential public procurement by the City of Buenos Aires.
4. Public-private sector governance for the newly created investment fund called FONDES.
In addition, two important regulatory reforms have been
announced, namely the creation of an SSE register called
RUPEPyS (Register of Productive Units of the Popular and
Social Economy) and the adoption of a tax benefits regime
for private investors contributing to FONDES."
(https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/social_and_solidarity_economy_29_march_2023.pdf)