High union tension: Luis Barrionuevo intervened Dante Camaño's guild, which rejects the measure and resists the seizure of the building

Luis Barrionuevo does not stop his offensive against Dante Camaño, despite two court rulings that confirmed the December 2 elections in which his former brother-in-law won re-election to the Capital Section of the Gastronomic Union: today, as leader of the guild at the national level, he ordered a drastic measure such as the intervention of the Buenos Aires subsidiary since Wednesday.

Camaño has already ignored the measure and is preparing to resist the onslaught: this afternoon his collaborators kicked out of the Salta 1301 trade union headquarters a barrionuevista executive and a lawyer who wanted to officially notify the intervention.

Conflict can escalate even further and no one rules out episodes of violence. In the Capital Sectional, there are fears that activists responding to Barrionuevo will try to take over the building that Camaño occupies, so there was a security reinforcement in the place and there are barricaded union employees who will spend the whole night to avoid an eventual occupation.

Barrionuevo's decision was adopted 24 hours after a second judicial ruling that prejudiced him: Chamber I of the National Chamber of Labour Appeals ratified the validity of the elections in which Camaño was re-elected as head of the Capital Section of the Union of Tourism, Hotel and Gastronomy Workers of the Argentina (UTHGRA), by dismissing its appeal against a first instance judgment by Judge Ana Clara Alfie that had left those elections firm.

Enrique Catani and María Cecilia Hockl, members of Chamber I of the National Chamber of Labor Appeals, rejected the appeal of the Blue List of Capital Gastronomics, whose candidate for secretary general is Humberto Ballhorst, against Judge Alfie's ruling in favor of a precautionary measure in the Camaño sector, which had called for the suspension of the elections due to alleged irregularities and that it was ordered by the Electoral Board dominated by the Barrionuevo sector.

Before Camaño assumes another term in the union, at an event scheduled for this Wednesday, Barrionuevo responded to him today with the intervention of the Buenos Aires subsidiary of Gastronomics: among his arguments is “the absence of a final resolution to the judicial procedure” and the fact that the mandate of the current authorities of the CABA Section”.

In a statement, the national UTHGRA led by Barrinuevo criticized his rival and the judges: “The National Labour Justice of Federal Capital, in a precautionary resolution at the request of the Grey List, led by Dante Camaño, has ordered the suspension of elections in the CABA Sectional,” he emphasized, “preventing hotel affiliates and to exercise their free and democratic will to elect their legitimate representatives, using a ruling that is clearly arbitrary and lacking legal support and rigged with unilateral considerations of the amparistas, without taking into account the documentation and evidence provided by the Central Electoral Board, which is also are expressly confirmed before officials of the Ministry of Labor and notary present on December 2, 2021, where the violation of the statutory norms of this organization is clearly expressed.”

For the Barrionuevo sector, “with this measure (due to the ruling of the labour justice system), it is attempted to confuse workers with a supposed final decision when clearly the intervening judiciary has not been issued on the merits of the case”.

The elections in the Gastronomic Union were held on December 2 throughout the country. Barrionuevo was re-elected nationally), while in the Capital Sectional the vote ended in scandal: both lists accused themselves of having made maneuvers to win and of having taken barrabvas to the union headquarters in Salta in 1300.

Even so, the elections began normally and the barrionuevista Electoral Board suspended them because the Camaño government did not endorse the entry of prosecutors from the Blue List to control the vote. However, Camaño went ahead with the elections and announced his victory. After not knowing the result, the Board of Elections called for a vote again on March 15.

Judge Alfie suspended the new elections and left the vote that took place on December 2 firm. “The election of the CABA Section of UTHGRA was suspended because it was considered a serious irregularity that the prosecutors on one of the lists had not been allowed to accompany the ballot box. However, I do not notice that the above circumstance is of the seriousness necessary for the determination of anything less than the suspension of the electoral act”, considered the judge on 2 March.

In their ruling, the camaristas Catani and Hockl considered that in the December 2 elections “there were no irregularities of such magnitude” as those denounced by the National Electoral Board, as did the opposition list, and stressed that “conduct that violates the rights of the freedom of association or freedom of association”.

“Voters' free expression is not affected in the first instance,” they added.

Both trade unionists were relatives and allies for more than 40 years until Barrionuevo separated in the middle of quarantine from Camaño's sister, Deputy Graciela Camaño, his wife for several decades and mother of two of his children.

That conflict moved to the union level and mutual accusations began: near Barrionuevo they say that there were discussions with Camaño because he has management problems, lost delegates and closed the union in the pandemic, while in the Buenos Aires subsidiary they talk about differences in the management of funds trade unions by Barrionuevo and warn that the chief gastronomic wants to keep the bank deposits of the Capital section of about USD 40 million.

How far will the fight between Barrionuevo and Camaño go? No one knows, but it is discounted that there will be no end.

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