Justice has left Luis Barrionuevo without recognition as the reelected secretary general of the Union of Hotel and Gastronomic Workers (Uthgra), one of the unions with the largest number of members in Argentina and which the leader has headed uninterrupted for 41 years. A labor judge did so by rejecting an injunction filed by the unionist after he failed to obtain formal certification from the Government for his reelection at the polls on December 29. The ruling is another chapter in the fratricidal dispute he has maintained for a couple of years with his former brother-in-law Dante Camaño, secretary general of the Buenos Aires section, the largest in the organization.
Judge Julio Grisolía dismissed a motion by Barrionuevo that ultimately demanded the Secretariat of Labor, under the Ministry of Human Capital, issue a provisional certification of authorities. Labor has so far avoided granting recognition to the gastronomic leader due to another judicial case initiated by Camaño, promoter of the opposition Lista Gris Naranja, to challenge the election for allegedly being excluded from that process.
Certification is the bureaucratic tool of the state that shields the decisions of a union authority, from banking procedures to deeds or internal appointments in each organization. In fact, the downfall of Abel Furlán that led to the intervention of the Union of Metallurgical Workers (UOM) began with the Executive’s refusal to validate his reelection due to an opposition challenge.
Barrionuevo and Camaño have been at odds since at least 2021. The Uthgra leader seeks to oust his former brother-in-law – brother of Graciela Camaño, the Peronist leader who for decades was the wife of the national gastronomic leader – from the Buenos Aires section, and the local leader, in turn, demands an alleged debt of 62 billion pesos from the national leadership. The dispute is being fought on the electoral and judicial fronts in at least three areas: the National Labor Court, the Administrative Litigation Court, and the Superior Court of Justice of Buenos Aires.
Despite Barrionuevo’s key influence over the CGT, Peronism, sectors of the UCR dominated by operator Enrique “Coti” Nosiglia, and a core of intelligence services, Camaño can boast of having the approval of Javier Milei and Mauricio Macri, as well as judicial officials who answer to the former president via Daniel Angelici. In fact, he often reminds his interlocutors that for sensitive cases he has the legal services of Bernardo Saravia Frías, former Treasury Prosecutor of the Cambiemos government and an unavoidable reference of the so-called “judicial table” that operated against unruly judges and prosecutors during that administration.
Para mí esto es una dictadura sindical de mierda. Barrionuevo laburó por los gastronómicos y ahora un juez corrupto del Gobierno K lo niega mientras Camaño y los zurdos festejan. Me parece que nos roban la libertad. ¡Viva la libertad carajo!
Para mí esto huele a circo montado entre los mismos mafiosos. Barrionuevo es un vendepatria que se cagó en los laburantes toda la vida, igual que Camaño. Ojalá se pudran los dos en cana. ¡El poder a los trabajadores, no a estos chorros!