Union blockades: after the controversial ruling in San Nicolás, a key trial against Camioneros begins in Rosario

Truckers' union activists block a customer who wanted to pick up merchandise from entering the Razzini company After the controversial court ruling in San Nicolás that acquitted a leader of the Truckers' Union and six other defendants, a key trial will begin Monday in Rosario against four of those responsible for the blockade suffered by the Razzini company for 90 days in 2020, which gave rise to a court case that was frozen for years and was on the verge of expiring. Libertarian congresswoman Verónica Razzini will be the first witness in the hearings, which will run through Thursday, presided over by the court composed of Gonzalo Fernández Bussy, Mariano Aliau and Paola Aguirre, where the defendants, who belong to the Santa Fe Truckers' Union, will be tried for the crime of disrupting a business (punishable by two to six years in prison). From the start of the blockade on June 8, 2020, Razzini, one of the owners —along with her brothers— of the building materials distribution company founded by her grandfather in Rosario 60 years ago, lived a nightmare: she was threatened every day, spat on and insulted, intimidated with firearms, told they would go to her father's house —he has health problems— to provoke a heart attack, she moved to avoid assaults, was warned that they knew where her children were, and had to hire infantry officers to protect her employees. Verónica Razzini, the businesswoman who fights against blockades and made it to Congress The origin of the conflict was the demand by the Santa Fe Truckers' Union that 18 of its 100 employees join the union, even though the company's activity had nothing to do with cargo transportation and, according to current regulations, they belonged under the Commerce Union and UOCRA. The Razzinis filed a judicial complaint over the blockade and managed to have the courts arrest and charge 10 employees and 3 union delegates who blocked access to their facilities and threatened their executives, but the problems did not end: in July 2022, the company's facade was hit by 3 gunshots and an intimidating message was left at the door ("Withdraw the complaint because I won't open (sic) ever again. Att. Truckers"). Despite the initial momentum, the case over the blockade was stuck in the courts for years and was close to expiring until recently, thanks to the initiative of a new prosecutor, Germán Mazzoni, it was revived and finally reached the oral trial that will begin this Monday. The Razzini company was blockaded by the Truckers' Union for 3 months in 2020 After the 2020 protest, Razzini created, together with lawyer Florencia Arietto, the Anti-Blockade Business Movement (MEAB), which she presided over, and from there they helped SMEs across the country that were victims of extortionate union actions, until the businesswoman won her legislative seat for the PRO in December 2023 and a year ago switched to La Libertad Avanza. Her push was decisive in having the Bases Law classify blockades as serious labor misconduct, which allows dismissing with cause those who participate in such actions. She was also responsible for the Labor Modernization Law including an article that directly holds union bosses accountable as organizers of blockades. Now, hours before the trial over the blockade of her company begins, Razzini told Infobae that having to relive those events will be "brutally hard," but she stressed: "I hope to obtain justice. It's the only thing I want. For the law to act as it should, because this is not for me. It's for investors, for people who want to work and have the desire to move their companies forward and keep betting on the country." Members of the Truckers' Union block the facilities of the Razzini company in the presence of police personnel The lawmaker considered that the hearing schedule could prove insufficient given the number of witnesses, audiovisual records and other elements incorporated into the case. "There are many witnesses, a lot of evidence submitted. The number of videos we have presented is impressive," she said. Among those who will testify about the episode are the notary who certified the blockade at the time ("a brave heroine," according to Razzini), company employees who resisted union pressure, and even a customer who was heckled by the activists because he wanted to pick up merchandise. Among her bad memories, the former head of the MEAB recalls the second official hearing held at the Labor Ministry delegation to try to resolve the conflict: "About 30 or 40 unionists were waiting for me at the entrance and they cornered me, spat on me, screamed all kinds of things at me. They were all men and I was with my lawyer," Razzini recounted. "It was terrible. I entered the hearing crying, having a nervous breakdown, scared to death. It was all organized there with the Labor Ministry's own people. After that I had to go everywhere with a bodyguard." The three gunshots fired at the front of the Razzini Group's business Among those charged with disrupting a business, the main defendant is Marcelo Ortiz, whose situation presents a mystery. According to Razzini, his defense lawyer reported that he may have died at the beginning of the year, but that the prosecutor requested a certificate or death record to verify his death. If that documentation is not presented, the defendant could be considered absent from the proceedings. To make matters worse, Ortiz is linked to a previous protest against a logistics and transportation SME in Zavalla, Santa Fe, which suffered 8 days of blockades by the local Truckers' Union after refusing to pay "invented debts," where activists even beat its owners, Damián Doboletta, his brother and his father (72 years old, whom they threw to the ground), in addition to stealing the cell phone of his wife as she tried to film the assault. Verónica Razzini, with Ariel and Gustavo Rey, the businessowners blockaded in San Pedro, and lawyer Florencia Arietto Beyond the trial in Rosario, Razzini last week secured decisive support from National Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva to reintroduce in the Chamber of Deputies a bill of her own authorship that classifies union blockades as a criminal offense, which lost parliamentary status in 2024 due to a lack of political backing for its passage. The initiative incorporates into the Criminal Code penalties for direct blockades with prison sentences of 6 months to 3 years and 6 months, and now Razzini will revive it with additions to prevent rulings like that of Judge Alejandro López of San Nicolás, who acquitted the leader of the Truckers' Union in San Nicolás, Maximiliano Cabaleyro, and 6 other defendants in the case over the blockade of the SME Rey Distribución, of San Pedro, considering it to have been carried out as a "legitimate exercise of a right."