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Who they are
Cristalux is a miracle of cooperation. More than 120 workers, none of whom had any prior cooperative experience, rescued this sprawling, dilapidated factory from bankruptcy. They formed a coop and have rebuilt the plant into a humming city of production. Retired workers have proudly come back to pass their knowledge on to the next generation. After decades of absence, artisans have returned to produce hand-blow stemware, instead of just adding lead to temporize for strength. The once famous Durax brand of tempered glassware has been brought back to life, and a group of workers have become owners.
Now, just a few years into its new incarnation, the factory has increased production tenfold and continues to win over new clients. The stunning achievement of these quietly proud workers is real proof of what people can do together when they are given (or seize) the opportunity, a decisive rebuke to any skeptic. And the glassware that they now make with over 60% post-consumer recycled glass is a beautifully simple, durable and functional product of this achievement.
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History
For sixty years, this giant plant in Avellaneda made the famous tempered glass plates of the Durax brand, and thousands of workers earned their living there. In the economic crisis of 2001, after years of cutting salaries and issuing their workers IOUs rather than wages, the owners of the plant finally closed its doors.
However, as with so many other shuttered plants around Argentina, the workers could not bear to sit idly outside a building with productive machinery waiting inside. They used the massive credit from unpaid wages as leverage to win the right to reopen the plant under their own control. The factory had fallen into severe disrepair, but the workers performed yet another miracle - in a plant that had previously been unable to turn a profit, with only sixty people working they were able to generate enough income to support another sixty workers to repair the neglected equipment.
Thanks to that great effort of cooperation, the Cristalux workers have revived a massive furnace that is ten times more efficient than the one they once used - production has now soared and waste has dwindled dramatically. At the outset, these workers were just looking for a living wage. In their extraordinary experience of struggle and triumph, they have found much more: a life of dignity, responsibility, and cooperation that they will fight to keep.
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Project with The Working World
Unfortunately, to date, the capital needs of Cristalux have been beyond the resources of The Working World:La Base. However, this has not stopped our two organizations from working together. We've undertaken regular visits, done pro bono business consulting, and are now building on this relationship to market Cristalux products to the world.
In the future, if WW:La Base's resources grow sufficiently, we hope to invest in some of the obvious capital improvements that would more than pay for themselves in the plant, and potentially provide dozens of new jobs as Cristalux reaches its former capacity. The potential of this workplace to offer dignified labor to many more people is an asset we simply can't ignore.
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Footwear