Salud Colectiva ISSN: 1669-2381 [email protected] Universidad Nacional de Lanús Argentina
Martin, Ana Laura; Spinelli, Hugo Para que el hombre vuelva a cantar mientras trabaja. El Instituto de Medicina del Trabajo (IMT) y la salud de los trabajadores Salud Colectiva, vol. 7, núm. 2, mayo-agosto, 2011, pp. 177-197 Universidad Nacional de Lanús Buenos Aires, Argentina
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u InTroducTIon territories of knowledge production; on the other, A
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y the conditions that many sectors of the labor a M
movement were undergoing and the degree of , 7 9
1 mobilization they were experiencing. The IMT
- In July 1973, a few months after a major 7 7
1 political overhaul in the Universidad de Buenos acted as a link between these two frequently : ) 2 (
7 Aires (UBA), the Institute of Occupational distant worlds, seeking to modify the relationship
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r Medicine (IMT, from the Spanish Instituto de between technical-scientific processes and i A
s Medicina del Trabajo ) was created within the worker demands. o n e
u Faculty of Medicine of that university. It was The purpose of this study was to recover B
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A conceptualized as part of a political project in the the experiences of the IMT through the testimonies v I
T health field, organized and elaborated with of those who participated in this process of C E L renewed ideas about the relationship between constructing a critical consciousness regarding the O C health and work. relationship between health and labor. D U L The distinctive feature of the IMT was A S its focus on the active participation of workers and their organizations in occupational health, abouT THe sTudy hygiene and safety. To this end, academic activities were carried out in association with trade unions in order to provide worker training, The field of social medicine as way of a series of collaborative research agreements thinking about health has been explored very were developed to understand the working little in Argentina and there is no systematic conditions in certain industries, and the active record preserving the memory of those who have participation of the workers was encouraged formed part of this school of thought. through “hygiene commissions” formed in each Furthermore, at the start of this study we were factory or company. unable to find material available documenting This interest in the centrality of workers the work IMT. Fortunately, in 1973, the Actas de in occupational hygiene and safety control was in las Jornadas Nacionales de Medicina del Trabajo constant tension with the established role of (Minutes of the National Conference of doctors and of the health sciences in general. By Occupational Medicine) (1) organized by this examining the place afforded to workers in the institution were published, which allowed us to control of their health, it was possible to question have access to the primary sources of this event the existing paradigm of occupational medicine and to the first expressions of such a rare as well as the role of medical professionals, of the experience as is the joint formulation between university and of the health sciences as a whole. health professionals and workers of a public The process that led to the creation of the IMT health agenda in the workplace. was, at the same time, a critical exploration of the The analysis presented is the result of a conditions to which Argentine workers were project entitled “The Institute of Occupational subject in terms of salary and general living Medicine and the development of critical thinking conditions, as well as of the scant interest that in public health during the 1960s and 1970s in health issues had generated among the unions. Argentina,” a research study carried out over five Therefore, this initiative of the Faculty of years (2006-2011) with the objective of recovering Medicine, although short-lived, was able to raise and analyzing the contributions of the IMT (a) the issue of occupational safety and health in a regarding the relation between work and health. way that that transcended, questioned and sought A documentary survey of primary to significantly modify the medical discipline. sources was carried out and using this initial Two critical situations influenced and information, guideline questionnaires for each of made possible the development of the IMT. On the interviews were designed. Thirteen the one hand, the particular political moment interviews were conducted with referential experienced in Argentina, which had reached the figures of the Institute: Felipe Aguerre, Luis university classrooms in addition to other Benencio, Silvia Chejter, Ruben Efron, Gilou
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 THe InsTITuTo de MedIcIna del TrabaJo (IMT) and worker HealTH 179 S A L U D
C O
Garcia Reioso, Omar Glezer, Estela Giménez, Universidad Nacional y Popular de Buenos Aires L E C
Horacio Kujnisky, Eduardo Menéndez, Carlos (National and Popular University of Buenos T I v A
Rodríguez, Osvaldo Saidón, Ricardo Saiegh and Aires). During the administration of Rodolfo ,
B u
Mario Testa. Many of them were filmed and Puiggrós and that of his successors Ernesto e n o s served as a base for elaborating oral documents. villanueva and Raul Laguzzi as rectors of the A i r The collected and elaborated material was then UBA, other similar innovations took place, such e s ,
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processed, edited and catalogued and the as the Mother and Child Institute in the Faculty of 2 ) : 1 contents written out and edited. The testimony Medicine and some time later, the Regional 7 7 - 1
and narration of the experience of those Pathology Institute with headquarters in the 9 7 , interviewed were used in order to comprehend Muñiz Hospital. In the Faculty of Pharmacology, M a y
the more concrete and everyday dimensions of the Drug Institute located in the Ramon Carrillo -
A u
the process, which were not included in the pharmaceutical production plant dedicated itself g u s t official documents. to domestic drug production. The Social Medicine , 2 0
In order to preserve the vast and rich Department was created in 1973 with the idea of 1 1 documentary material resulting from this invest- coordinating the activities and functions of these igation, the Thinking about Health Documentation new institutes, although it was never able to carry Center (CEDOPS, from the Spanish Centro de out this task. In different faculties of the UBA, Documentación “Pensar en Salud” ) was created chairs, courses and departments were developed within the Institute of Collective Health at the according to the discourse of the “university at the Universidad de Lanús. This Documentation Center service of national reconstruction,” with the goal (2) stores the interviews and the documentary of bringing science as a whole closer to problems material used as primary sources in this analysis so considered socially relevant (b). In accordance as to make them available to and to allow for future with the executive order that mandated the research studies. overhaul of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, the changes were directed at “definitively putting the universities at the service of the people,” as the THe FaculTy oF MedIcIne, THe IMT, universities were experiencing a severe crisis and “occupaTIonal MedIcIne aT reflected “in the cultural realm and in the THe servIce oF workers” economic and political dependency that Argentina was suffering” (6 p.202). A number of the new university A starting point for those who administrators were connected to the elaborated the guiding principles of the IMT was Montoneros [an armed group of the Peronist left], the necessity of linking knowledge produced in or at least had the support of that organization. In scientific and university environments with social 1973, in the distribution of positions of influence needs, in particular the needs of workers. The within the State, the university would be held by rupture between science and scientism and the the Peronist left. During that year, the Peronist positive relationship between knowledge and University Youth (JUP, Juventud Universitaria politics – pronounced by the most radicalized Peronista) won almost all of the student union student sectors since the 1960s – were in this way elections – nine of the thirteen student unions recovered. The IMT assigned itself a fundamental existing at the time – thus consolidating its role in connecting knowledge developed within influence in the university government (c). the university to the world of work. In the Faculty of Medicine, after the One of the first measures taken by the brief term of Tomas Mascitti, Mario Testa became government of Hector Cámpora, who took office the new dean of the overhaul. He had the support on May 25, 1973, was the overhaul of the of an important sector of the JUP, and was in national universities. This political act allowed for agreement with the fundamental principles of the the creation of policies such as those developed in public health policies proposed by that sector of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de Peronism for this new phase, the primary Buenos Aires, which at that time was renamed the objective of which was the creation of a Unified
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 180 MarTIn al, spInellI H. 1 1 0 2 , t s u g
u National Health Program (d) (8,9). Since the end establishing an organic relationship with A
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y of 1972, with the possibility of elections putting unionized workers, by the belief that the a M
an end to the de facto government close at hand, politicization of these sectors regarding their , 7 9
1 various groups of professionals had come exploitation was necessary, and by a shared - 7 7
1 together within Peronism with the goal of concern regarding the effects of working : ) 2 (
7 influencing the political content of the next conditions upon workers’ health. For the IMT’s
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r government’s program. Within that context, leadership, working conditions formed an i A
s Mario Testa had returned to the country a short organic and material whole directly affecting the o n e
u time before and was collaborating, in life of workers and their families beyond the B
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A conjunction with some members of the Peronist workplace. An important part of this thinking had v I
T Youth, in the development of the core contents of been developed in the 1960s, in particular during C E L a health program (9). The project Mario Testa the strikes that took place in the industries in the O C announced for the Faculty of Medicine focused province of Cordoba during those years. D U
L on admissions (unrestricted until just a short time According to Ricardo Saiegh, the first director of A S before), on a progressive course of study in which the Institute, the creation of the IMT was the students would gain skills of increasing result of experience and reflection: importance, on the integration of university studies with work as well as with research, on the …as part of our activism in relation to the worker decentralization of teaching, and on the struggles during the Cordobazo [massive worker coordination of university curricula and and student protest that took place on May 29, knowledge with the health program of the 1969], we started analyzing one aspect of that national government (8 p.77). political struggle more deeply, in this case the This new phase allowed the directors effect that labor had on workers […] In 1973, and some of the members of the IMT to reenter when the popular government took office, we the university in decision-making roles, which had the idea of creating a tool to channel these was experienced as a continuity between prior concerns, which became the Institute of student activism and university administration. Occupational Medicine (11). These were young graduates who, in many cases, did not have any formal training in occupational At that moment, after the electoral medicine but whose political activism and victory of the Peronist Justicialist Front for participation in left-wing organizations since the National Liberation (FREJULI, Frente Justicialista 1960s had put them in contact with grassroots de Liberación Nacional ), a series of conflicts that unions and helped them to understand the took place mainly in the factories situated in the working conditions in different sectors of Greater Buenos Aires area expressed demands production. The relationship the IMT wished to regarding the control of working conditions establish with the most combative sectors of the which were added to other non-salary based labor movement and its conceptualization of the demands, such as the reclassification of labor key role of these sectors in the production tasks, the reincorporation of dismissed workers, process would be very important to the IMT and and the conflicts within the plants over the its capacity to integrate young professionals from appointment of new and genuine union different political and ideological backgrounds leadership (12). On the one hand, it was about within the same project (10). In a short time, putting in motion a series of “overdue” worker physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, social demands given validity by the new political science professionals, engineers and technicians situation, and on the other hand, the with a broad range of ideological stances, in “intensification of the class struggle as a result of some cases connected with political the consensus politics established by the organizations that did not support the government in the Social Pact between company government, also joined the IMT. owners and the CGT [government-sponsored The heterogeneous membership of the union]” (13 p.333) (e). Frequently, especially IMT was united by a common interest in between mid-1973 and the beginning of 1974, a
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 THe InsTITuTo de MedIcIna del TrabaJo (IMT) and worker HealTH 181 S A L U D
C O number of strikes and factory occupations focused on that. […] The basis of our idea was to L E C emphasized issues of occupational hygiene and build politics that established relationships T I v A
safety. In general, these protests were a strategy among professionals, technicians and the ,
B u used by labor groups that challenged the possibility of articulating with the conditions of e n o s
“bureaucratized” union leadership and worker control over industrial hygiene and A i r encouraged more grassroots participation. safety. (19) e s ,
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The relationship between IMT directors 2 ) : 1 and combative unions encouraged the partici- The presence of workers in the control 7 7 - 1
pation of these labor leaders and fostered contact over health issues was, according to the IMT, the 9 7 , with workplaces where conflicts had arisen. only possible way to guarantee that workers could M a y
transform their own working conditions. There-
After the project was implemented, workers -
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fore, a series of ideas and institutions, which were u enrolled in opposition union organizations g u s t could be seen in the university. One of the first created to benefit workers but which actually , 2 0 organizations that joined the IMT belonged to worked as “agents of the repressive system,” began 1 1 Astarsa Shipyards. The contact came through to be questioned (20 p.6). The fundamental two of its leaders: Juan Sosa, who had a previous criticism of the way occupational medicine was connection with directors of the Institute and practiced at that time was that the mechanisms of Luis Benencio, an active member of the health control in operation exclusively favored the opposition in the shipyard. It is worth idea of health as a commodity (21 p.17). The mentioning the participation of the IMT at the university held a key role in socializing the beginning of 1974 during the strike of South essential knowledge needed to carry out a real American Company of Industry and Trade control of hygiene and health within the factories (INSUD, Compañia Sudamericana de Industria y and therefore had the obligation to train Comercio ), whose main demand was related to technicians and professionals capable of dealing the health damages produced by the workers’ with labor problems from a new perspective, exposure to lead. which could be paraphrased as “occupational The development of the political events health at the service of workers” (20 p.1). during the 1960s put into focus a decade later an The image of the “factory doctor” was issue that was not new for left-wing intellectuals useful in order to describe the process that and political sectors: the identification of the occupational medicine was experiencing. Doctors working class with Peronism. This relationship, at were increasingly associated with control of moments difficult for the left to comprehend, absenteeism, their role changing from seemed to cement itself in the particular political “practitioners” towards a function of “medical scenario resulting from Hector J. Campora’s rise policing” and as a consequence distrust was to power. Once the choice the working class had fostered between them and workers (20p.19). made to support Peron in 1945 was accepted as Therefore, over the preceding 18 years a kind of positive, then in the present the only possible “reverse medicine” had emerged, which was more alternative of political construction was through oriented toward demonstrating that workers were Peronism (16). This coincided with the prog- not sick than to making correct diagnoses and ressive incorporation of sectors traditionally at providing proper treatment (21 p.6). This criterion odds with Peronism, such as university students was translated into economic compensation for and professional middle classes (17, 18). Ruben occupational accidents and permanent injuries, Efron, part of the leadership of the IMT, states that and the purpose of any medical care received was the members of the Institute: limited to assuring that sick workers resumed their work quickly (20 p.19). According to the new …were interested in Gramsci, in the concept of discourse, the kind of occupational health that was hegemony, and we always dreamed of the necessary was one that: possibility of building hegemony and the role of professionals and intellectuals within factories. …focused on the preservation of the physical An important part of our political practice was and psychological conditions of the working
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 182 MarTIn al, spInellI H. 1 1 0 2 , t s u g
u population instead of, as generally happens, on recovered. With its existence of a little over a A
- absenteeism indexes or the increase of y year, the Institute initiated two major courses of a M
production costs that occupational illnesses or action: one directed at professional and worker , 7 9
1 accidents could cause. (20 p.39). training and the other at research regarding the - 7 7
1 working conditions in different industries. Both of : ) 2 ( These arguments were not limited to an
7 them implied a close relationship with workers.
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e isolated observation of the work process. On the r In August 1973, a postgraduate course i A
s contrary, this line of argument affirmed that the was taught that included topics typically absent o n
e two decades after Peron’s overthrow in 1955 had
u from standard medical training, such as B
, been decisive for the development of dependent
A “industrial toxicology,” “psychopathology in the v I
T capitalism and for the subsequent intensification workplace” and “a critical history of occupational C E L of labor exploitation (20). This situation had medicine.” Professionals specialized in each O C spread and could be seen in factory medical subject were invited to participate. Some were D U
L offices, in industrial safety conditions, in the so- practicing medicine at the Hospital de Clínicas, A S called labor or absenteeism control clinics, in where the Institute had its headquarters, and university hygiene and occupational medicine although they did not have prior knowledge of courses, in government agencies of occupational the project, they quickly accepted the proposal hygiene and safety control and in the collusion of (g). This program was an introduction to many bureaucratized union leaders who occupational medicine and was especially supported the dictatorship (22 p.5-6). targeted at factory doctors. The Dean’s Office of The notion of “occupational health at the School of Medicine had planned, if the the service of workers” also achieved a historical curriculum could be modified, to incorporate dimension; it was described as the continuation these subjects into the Social Medicine course of the bright past the working class had had that would be among the first required by the during Juan Domingo Peron’s government, in Health Sciences (formerly Medicine) degree contrast to the rights progressively lost over the program. It would ultimately be offered only one last decades and the process of dependence into year, in 1974. which Argentine capitalism had sunk. It was in The worker training courses (Figure 1) the contemporary historical process that the IMT were offered at different times and included found its legitimacy and defined its meaning, in within the curriculum concepts regarding the opposition to the recent past and within a critical work environment and factors harmful to health: political situation that made transformation industrial toxicology, occupational fatigue, possible. The Institute’s discourse placed it in accidentology, workplace safety, organization of alignment with the Peronist project and thus industrial hygiene and safety, and labor enabled the Institute to more effectively legislation (21 p.30). The training courses communicate with the working class. multiplied and, according to data from the Institute, were attended by 1,300 workers from a number of different unions (23 p.28). These researching working conditions, the courses were taught within the Faculty of interaction between workers and Medicine and were accredited by the university; professionals, and the concepts of harmful the workers were symbolically granted a diploma work environment and worker control during the Faculty’s graduation ceremonies. In order to reinforce the connection The rapid development and short with unionized workers, the National Conference existence of the IMT made it difficult to of Occupational Medicine was held from systematize the work done and to expand and November 1-3, 1973. Mining, telecommu- reflect upon each project undertaken. However, nication and shipyard union leaders participated, by examining the practice of the IMT, some of the as well as worker commissions from different core ideas that guided IMT staff and the way in sectors that presented the problems and needs in which those ideas were implemented can be their unions regarding health and working
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C O
Table 1. Course titles and topics covered in worker training courses taught at the Institute of L E C
Occupational Medicine between 1973 and 1974. Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos T I v
Aires, Argentina. A ,
B u e
Course Title Topics covered n o s
A i r Health issues in industries Work environment: noise, heat, dust. e s ,
7
Industrial toxicology ( 2 ) : Fatigue 1 7 7 - Occupational safety and accidents 1 9 7 ,
Organization of industrial hygiene and safety M a
Labor legislation y
-
A u g
Course in the Argentine Mine Health and labor u s t ,
Workers Association Work environment: noise, heat, dust 2 0 1
(Asociación Obrera Minera Mining activities and pneumoconiosis 1
Argentina ) Medical problems related to heat
Course at the Labor Work environment: noise, heat, dust Federation of Argentine Chemical risks Ceramicists ( Federación Physical risks Obrera Ceramistas de la Psychological risks Republica Argentina ) Medical problems Legal aspects
Course for workers of the General risks faced by automotive and metallurgical industry workers Metallurgical and Automotive Welding risks and diseases of welders Industry Polishing risks and diseases of polishers Lever operation risks and diseases of lever operators Lathe operation risks and diseases of lathe operators Risks in thermal treatments and electrotyping Assembly line risks and associated pathologies
Course for the Milk Industry Work environment: noise, heat, dust Workers Union ( Sindicato de Chemical risks Trabajadores de la Industria Physical risks Lechera ) Psychological risks Medical problems Legal aspects
Source: Own elaboration based on the Boletín del Instituto de Medicina de Buenos Aires (21) and Un año de realizaciones (23).
conditions. Almost all the members of the those belonging to the second and third lines of Institute took part in discussion panels which leadership in their unions (24). It was also a way around 1,000 people attended, according to the to make the political orientation of the Institute conference organizers (1). explicit within the University and the Faculty of The conference promoted a more Medicine where it had its headquarters, as well dynamic relationship between the IMT and the as within the heterogeneous universe that made unions, particularly with those opposed to the up the political support for the government in bureaucratized union representation and with office since March 1973 and within which deep
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u political and ideological differences were The consensus among IMT members A
-
y increasingly openly debated (h). In this sense, the regarding the objective of the Institute and the a M
conference sessions can be considered as a way fluid relationship with worker organizations , 7 9
1 to ratify, in a reduced arena but nevertheless with allowed common projects to be implemented - 7 7
1 certain visibility and great symbolic power, the quickly. The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and : ) 2 (
7 initiative and organizational capacity of the the Institute directors signed a number of
, s e
r youngest sectors that had approached Peronism research agreements with different unions to i A
s and found in it the closest possibility of a path carry out studies on problems considered priority o n e
u towards socialism at a national level, but that had by the parties involved (i). In a short time, B
,
A also discovered its main contradiction to be the between August and November 1973, a series of v I
T centrality of traditional trade unionism. working groups sustained by a large group of C E L Despite the relationship that the IMT professionals (j) were in operation, with O C developed with grassroots working class sectors, participation from many different disciplines. D U
L the project was not immune to the conflicting Several Chilean and Uruguayan doctors and A S interests within Peronism, and it was not always nurses, recently exiled and with more experience easy for young university students to limit the than local doctors, were also incorporated (k). working relationship to these favored sectors. In Among the research projects carried out, reference to this situation, Mario Testa the most important was on the Pirquitas mine in remembers: the province of Jujuy (l). At that time, the province had one of the highest levels of child morbi- We couldn’t… privately, we talked about trade mortality and one of the shortest life expectancies union bureaucracy, but when they came, it was in Argentina. In the National Conference of all: comrade, yes comrade, take a seat, comrade, Occupational Medicine, the health conditions of come in, comrade. (24) workers in Jujuy had been discussed based on a notice submitted by authorities of the province, Apart from these this resistance and which then led to the signing of an agreement these limitations, the IMT was able to make a between the Faculty of Medicine and the Health priority the project of an occupational medicine Undersecretariat in Jujuy. At the end of November able to reach all workers and at the same time a large multidisciplinary group of IMT members innovative in its perspective and approach. In settled in the vicinity of the mine for several days. practice, the Institute was able to draft analysis These members of the Institute went to Pirquitas (analytic) criteria that avoided reducing the with a hypothesis: that there was no regular analytical scope to the workplace and isolating registration of retired miners because miners died the work environment, proposing instead a view before reaching retirement age (10,29). The from which it was possible to connect the information was attributed to the Argentine Mine worker, the worker’s health, and the place in Workers Association (AOMA, Asociación Minera which that work was carried out. The questions Argentina), a mining trade union with which they motivating each study were of an epi- had been directly connected in the last few months demiological nature and considered the work through its general secretary Carlos R. Cabrera. environment as the one that “ generates, The field research in Pirquitas allowed perpetuates or concentrates certain risk factors for the identification of different dimensions that that should be focused on ” when evaluating the affect the health of miners. Doctors and diseases and illnesses of those affected (25). This toxicologists worked for a number of days epidemiological focus and the way it was collecting clinical data that showed the presence approached – with the incorporation of of pneumoconiosis and the need for immediate disciplines in addition to the biomedical and the treatment of the condition. Engineers specialized inclusion of workers within the process – were in industrial safety assessed the quantities of dust, cohesive elements that made it possible to attract humidity, noise and vibrations, among another professionals of different political affiliations and factors, in the work environment. The active for them to coexist. participation of the mental health team allowed
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C O for the development one of the most important in the case of the miners, the hypothesis was L E C areas of study in the Institute: the psychological formulated based on inquiries that the union had T I v A
dimension of occupational risk factors, which previously made regarding the health of its ,
B u had been little considered within occupational affiliates. A series of psychological, auditory and e n o s medicine and had enormous significance in this orthopedic effects were found, produced by a A i r experience. Using individual interviews, work pace that demanded many tasks be e s ,
7 (
predesigned surveys and group meetings, specific performed simultaneously (11). 2 ) : 1 aspects regarding the psychological effects of In both cases, multidisciplinary and 7 7 - 1
mining work for both miners and the family interdisciplinary work was not simply a 9 7 , groups to which they belonged were explored. functional operational method for the IMT teams, M a y
The team noted a recurring dream among the but rather responded to a conceptualization of -
A u
workers related to a black dog that sat upon their how occupational risks in industries and g u s t chests and provoked in them a distressing workplaces operated. Labor organizations were , 2 0 sensation of asphyxia that woke them up. The considered a product of social relationships and 1 1 interpretation was that this black dog, considered had to be analyzed as such. Therefore, the issues a mythical animal by the inhabitants of the provoked in individuals could be understood not region, appeared in their dreams as a symbol of only “as individual but also as a manifestation of their frequent lung diseases (m). The mental the conditions silently shared by all [workers]” (1 health team became interested in issues that were p.128). In this way, isolated analyses were present in the daily life of the community settled avoided in order to understand as a whole the in the mine, such as phobias and fears of factors harmful to health and their interaction and accidents, diseases and death, as well as the permanence, in opposition to diagnostic criteria effect that this kind of activity in the mine shafts and medical proceedings that considered only had on workers outside of the sphere of the individually affected worker (1 p.77). production (10). Interrelating such dimensions as the psy- The idea that mining work was trying chological with risk factors like the exposure to was not new; some time before, the AOMA had noise, heath and dust, proposing a more critical promoted a project to draft a statute for workers in analysis of the effects of the work pace, and the sector with the objective of solving problems assessing its consequences in the person at work, specific to this type of work – frequent diseases, together constituted a way of thinking about the accidents, living conditions in the campsites – and role of health professionals and technicians with the intention of modifying the retirement age within the industries. (10). Pirquitas was a key experience for IMT The studies carried out in the mine in members, as it was there that they developed a Jujuy and with telephone operators evidenced a series of multidisciplinary strategies that could be particular aspect of the conceptual position that later observed in other investigations. Not only the IMT was developing regarding work and did these strategies seek to reveal the most occupational diseases. The form of questioning poignant risks that the work produced, but they and the interest in health disorders not usually also offered an opportunity to question the effects taken into account had as a base an original of work in a more complex way. formulation which the IMT defined ad the “daily In association with the Buenos Aires micro-trauma of work” (1 p.42). This category chapter of the Federation of Argentine Telephone aimed to displace the idea of “professional Workers and Employees (FOETRA, Federacion illnesses,” which were usually individualized in de Obreros y Empleados Telefónicos de la the legislation and were common in the medical Republica Argentina ), the union that represented discourse, as they did not reflect the deeper the phone workers of the National problems implied in the relationship between the Telecommunications Company (ENTEL, Empresa worker and his work (1 p.41). The concepts of Nacional de Telecomunicaciones ), the IMT unhappiness, alienation and dissatisfaction were carried out an interdisciplinary research study of used to explain the problematic relationship the health of phone operators. As had happened between work and the person who performs it; this
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u was in turn closely related to the social condition and wrote a technical report about lead A
-
y in which that relationship developed each day. poisoning in the plant that could be used to a M
The slogan chosen by the IMT to substantiate the demands being made (33). , 7 9
1 illustrate its objectives summarizes these ideas The demands directed at the company - 7 7
1 well: so that man might once again sing while he focused on the inadequate working conditions in : ) 2 (
7 works . With this clear reference to the capitalist the processing of lead and on the collusion of
, s e
r exploitation of the labor force, the slogan factory doctors who did not acknowledge i A
s evidenced a core problem in worker health: the illnesses such as saturnism in workers. On the o n e
u very thing that makes self-fulfillment possible, in other hand, the Commission of Delegates of the B
,
A this case the worker’s labor, is also the factor INSUD accused the Metallurgical Trade Union v I
T responsible for his alienation (1 p.125) and that (Union Obrera Metalurgica ) of acting in C E L “state of unhappiness that originates in the collusion with the company because although O C worker for not having a free relationship with his their doctors had diagnosed poisoning they did D U
L labor” (1 p.42). not support the strike. A S Other research studies made it possible The Institute provided a key element to to reexamine the diagnostic criteria that support the demands and made it possible to occupational medicine applied. One of these explore the real health conditions of workers in studies was developed to look into the effects of that company. In the interaction with affected lead exposure in the Caseros branch of the workers, the IMT was able to confirm that the automotive company FIAT, as well as another symptoms of poisoning often presented metallurgical company by the name of Pratti themselves long before consulting a doctor but vazquez e Iglesias S.A. in the locality of that those symptoms were not mentioned for fear Avellaneda. Some of the members of the IMT of economic consequences or of being fired clinical team had previous knowledge based directly from their jobs, or because of the upon experiences providing medical care in the intimate nature of their symptoms. The workers graphics union that caused them to doubt lab were all men, and lead poisoning produced, analyses as a basis for diagnosis and to question among other consequences, sexual dysfunction, the legally established lead exposure levels. The a condition they were not always willing to admit IMT team combined the biochemical analyses to their peers or doctors. However, these types of used to measure lead absorption with other consequences resulting from working with lead electrophysiological analyses. The results and in an inadequate work environment were demonstrated that almost every person tested had expressed by INSUD workers in some of the some level of poisoning and that the biochemical general meetings carried out during the conflict tests by themselves did not make it possible to in 1974 that the IMT also attended. To the differentiate between clinically demonstrable and surprise of IMT members, the workers as well as latent cases (n). Moreover, the correlation their families spoke publicly about the issue and between exposure intensity, calculated in the clearly established the relation between the amount of hours worked, and disease was problems expressed and the work carried out in established (28, 31 p. 87-88). the plant of the company in question (o). The knowledge produced by the These kinds of exercises were especially Institute regarding lead poisoning was then used valued by IMT researchers because they reinfor- by workers of the INSUD. A strike began during ced the idea that workers were the most pertinent the first months of 1974 in the lead processing guardians of occupational health; they also plant of that company in the locality of La highlighted the ability of workers to detect the Matanza, in Greater Buenos Aires, reaching its most frequent health problems produced by their point of highest tension in the month of March work and the clarity with which they related such when the manager Enrique Mendelsohn was damages to working conditions. Furthermore, kidnapped. The IMT supported the community most of the Institute members were young soup kitchen that the workers organized near the professionals and not all of them were trained in premises, participated in the workers’ meetings, the occupational health field. In the interaction
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C O with workers and in this concrete field of that the results of measurements just were not L E C practice, they found it possible to experience a enough. The problem was that in some places, T I v A
role as professionals which, among other things, there was welding going on and the same time ,
B u allowed them to explore less evident aspects of there were gusts of wind blowing everything e n o s illness as a process that goes beyond individual around you, so, what were you going to A i r and biological disease. measure? You couldn’t. You couldn’t measure e s ,
7
dust, smoke, or anything… So there were places (
The urgency of the political events in 2 ) : 1
1973 and the speed at which the actions of the that could not be declared unhealthy according 7 7 - 1
IMT were implemented did not leave much room to law (15 p.119). 9 7 , to systematize what was being done. In some M a y
In this regard the issue of worker control
cases, research projects and experiences such as -
A
over the working conditions was becoming more u those at INSUD and Pirquitas were related to g u s t concepts and definitions developed later on and central for the project of the Institute. “ We’re the , 2 0 that influenced the professional careers of the ones who feel what goes on ,” said Juan Sosa 1 1 people involved, as in the case of Eduardo during one of the meetings of the IMT at the Menéndez and his elaboration of the Hegemonic Faculty of Medicine (1 p.75). Each worker Medical Model, which he published just after the possessed a fundamental element with which to creation of the Institute (p). measure and assess the conditions of his daily The legislation at the time regarding work because the main instrument was his body, occupational hygiene was also reexamined. The which was the best index for measuring the research into noise within the plants directly influence of risk factors present in the workplace. questioned the levels authorized by the Sosa’s comment becomes even more regulations. The IMT team of engineers analyzed intelligible within the concept of worker control, the relevant legislation and verified that it was which was an ultimate goal of the IMT. Tools such highly lax and that it was biased in assessing the as the medical manual for workers – Manual de effects produced by noise. Horacio Kujnisky (q), Medicina para los Trabajadores (22) – as well as a member of the team, summarizes: worker trainings did not intend just to educate workers and provide a guide for dealing with …within the law, the criterion applied to hearing risks. The IMT aimed to visualize the incidence of loss considered that at the end of your certain work conditions within occupational productive work life, when you retired, it was health and safety and proposed worker control as enough if you ended up hearing at least common a concrete strategy to modify the situation in the speech. It didn’t matter if you lost the rest of your industries and in the production system. hearing capacity. We were fighting against that In order to communicate in clear (36). language the concept of work environment and factors harmful to health, establish critical The legislation was questioned because arguments for assessing legislation, and propose it was permissive and scarcely protected people tools for worker control, a long and detailed three- from disability, in addition to the isolated criteria part document was produced. The first part it imposed. Luis Benencio, from the company named and described workplace risks; the second Astarsa, confirmed that the compliance with the analyzed the current legislation at the time; and regulations was usually not enough to guarantee the third, more proposal-oriented, developed the the wellbeing of the workers (r): idea of worker control over working conditions and proposed mechanisms to make that control You know what happens? If you were going to possible. It may be that the IMT attempted a take the measurements according to the massive circulation of the text in order to expand regulations, some of them would not be enough upon and overcome the limits of the worker to declare a public health issue. It’s very training courses, but unfortunately it has not been curious… It wasn’t that in some places possible to confirm the destination of the material employers were screwing us over, no, no, it was nor whether it was finally published. The
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u distribution was likely limited to the contacts the effects that the pace and conditions of work had A
-
y Institute had with different unions. on workers. a M
With simple illustrations, the Manual The concepts of work environment and , 7 9
1 described the “work environment” and the risk factors was analyzed in constant reference to - 7 7
1 factors harmful to health that circulate within it the exposure levels that the regulations : ) 2 (
7 (Figures 1 and 2). Four groups of risk elements considered acceptable for the health of workers.
, s e
r were described: the first group dealt with the For this purpose, the Manual (22) defined the i A
s “workplace microclimate” and included the indexes of reference for measuring noise, light, o n e
u effects of light, noise, heat, temperature and humidity, etc.; the maximum and minimum B
,
A humidity; the second described pollutants in levels admissible for each type of activity v I
T the work environment and defined their according to law; and the health risks present in C E L maximum acceptable levels according to law; the work environment when these conditions O C the third covered aspects connected to were not respected. The way in which the D U
L “physical effort and awkward postures”; and the contents were presented is interesting in that they A S fourth corresponded to the psychological allowed for the comparison of the admitted and
Figure 1. Description of the occupational microclimate.
Source: Instituto de Medicina del Trabajo (22).
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C O
Figure 2. Description of the work environment. L E C T I v A ,
B u e n o s
A i r e s ,
7 ( 2 ) : 1 7 7 - 1 9 7 ,
M a y
-
A u g u s t , 2 0 1 1
source: Instituto de Medicina del Trabajo (22).
recommended values and their impact on knowledge of the diagnoses made by the medical occupational accidents and health deterioration. staff of the company; this evaluation would be In order to clarify the importance of reassessing part of the general record controlled by the the established values, the report included Internal Hygiene Commission in each plant. The examples of research studies and their results IMT affirmed that in this way, the effect of worker when the safety measures were higher (Figure 3). control “is twofold: not only is health once again The proposal-oriented section of the the patrimony of those who put it at risk in their Manual (22) defined instruments to make work, but also everyone participates in the possible worker control of the working control over working conditions and finally in conditions by means of Internal Hygiene control over the production” (22 p.59). Commissions and a Book of Risks and Damages . Some promising experiences being The latter would have a personal version made developed at that time were taken as precedents especially for each worker and a collective for the concepts of worker control and work version for the group of workers at each environments. In its last pages, the Manual (22) company. Consequently, each worker could makes reference to the experience in Astarsa – a maintain control over his condition and have situation with which the directors of the Institute
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u Figure 3. Lighting, eye strain, harmful effects in the industry. A
-
y a M
, 7 9 1 - 7 7 1 : ) 2 ( 7
, s e r i A
s o n e u B
, A v I T C E L O C
D U L A S
Source: Instituto de Medicina del Trabajo (22).
Note: The table above summarizes the results of an experience carried out in the mechanical industry, in which the legal minimum lighting levels were increased. A 25% decrease in occupational accidents was observed.
were well acquainted, and where worker hygiene of their own labor conditions. The distinctive commissions had already been implemented – slogan of this movement was “health is not for and to the Italian Worker Model (MOI, Modelo sale” and “no delegation” of worker control over Obrero Italiano ) promoted by the Confederazione the conditions in their workplace (40 p.63). Generale Italiana del Lavoro, that had been Cristina Laurell analyzed the Italian circulating since the 1960s in that country (s). case as a conceptualization of the working class In Italy, in the context of worker protests that was able to develop a view of health different against the capitalist organization of work, a model from the one in existence until that moment. The of action and exploration regarding the harmful MOI explained health as a vital part of the effects of industrial work was developed, with a workers and not as a good with a price; this key characteristic being the role the workers meant rebelling against the idea of the occupied in it (39). During the 1970s, a con- immutability of the capitalist organization of siderable number of workers became researchers work as it raised the possibility of modifying
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C O production conditions to remove their harmful produced in the work environment, they aspired L E C effects (40). It also meant a qualitative advance in to modify the production conditions (in English T I v A
worker demands and such a degree of worker we would take this to me the conditions in the ,
B u mobilization that it was able to influence the place where things are produced?)– in every e n o s
General Reform of the Italian National Public sense – so that they would no longer be a risk to A i r Health System in 1978. workers’ health. e s ,
7 (
The Argentine and Italian experiences 2 ) : 1 had some elements in common. The ideas 7 7 - 1 regarding the “demercantilization” of health, epIloGue 9 7 ,
“dealienation” and worker control were shared M a y
by both and were widely expressed under the -
A u
slogan of “occupational medicine at the service The activities within the IMT were g u s t of workers.” In practice, that idea was integrated carried out for a little over than a year. By the end , 2 0 into a single discourse which included the of 1974 most activity had ceased, although some 1 1 questioning of occupational medicine as it was of the research projects continued for a few more practiced at the time, the concept and approach months. The conservative and authoritarian turn to health and sickness and the role of workers the government had taken became particularly within that process. However, there was one evident in July of that year with the death of Juan major difference between the Argentine and D. Peron and with his widow Maria Estela Italian experiences: in Argentina, the critical Martinez sworn-in as the new president. Alberto ideation came from very different social actors. It Ottalagano, who came from the extreme right was led by university professionals, most of them wing of Peronism, began to intervene in the belonging to the health sciences field, who in a Universidad de Buenos Aires, with Oscar particular political juncture were able to Ivanissevich at the head of the Ministry of formulate a proposal for worker control over Education. Within the university, starting in late working conditions and who, above all, wanted 1973, tensions among the different sectors to create a new focus for the medical criteria and supporting the government had mounted and the practices in the field of occupational medicine. It university leadership, coming from Revolutionary was in this sense a repudiation coming from Peronism, began to find limitations within an within the field, which was able to extend environment they thought was theirs but that was beyond the limits of that field and show itself as becoming increasingly constrained. Conse- an alternative and as a proposal for a joint quently, many projects in operation slowed and political between workers and health eventually stopped their activity. In addition, the professionals (t). Thus, the IMT team became a way in which conflicts were solved – many times sort of workers’ ally whose function was to make by using political weapons particular to the available necessary knowledge and to “create the university – dispelled the camaraderie that the need among workers” to make health an issue university’s renewal had at first generated. In a worth fighting for (26). Health in the workplace short time, the university would become an and work as a component of health were a two important site of political violence. parts of an equation that could have positive The Faculty of Medicine was not at the results if the exploitation processes implicit in sidelines of these conflicts; in May 1974, Dean dependent capitalism could be unraveled and if Mario Testa resigned his position. A few days each worker assumed control over his own labor before, the tension between Juan Domingo capacity. In this way, the IMT sought to Peron and groups of young people from the left- overcome initiatives focused on “cleaning up” wing of Peronism had heightened until finally the work environment and proposed that every exploding with the expulsion of the Montoneros doctor become an “occupational epidemiolo- from Plaza de Mayo [during a government- gist.” Finally, the IMT proposed a reversal of sponsored political act for International terms: rather than taking care of the workers’ Worker’s Day]. However, the leadership in the health and anticipating the harmful effects Faculty of Medicine preserved the same
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u political character. The position of dean was public health system after taking office as director A
-
y taken over by Ricardo Saiegh, who was at the of Mental Health in the community of Madrid a M
time director of the IMT, and Ruben Efron (42). Carlos Rodriguez, after studying at the , 7 9
1 occupied his position at the Institute. Clinica del Lavoro Luigi Devoto in Italy, - 7 7
1 At least until September of that year, the collaborated with the CCOO in the development : ) 2 (
7 Institute kept up its activity and was able to begin of occupational health. He also managed the first
, s e
r training courses for workers, but the violence and two occupational health centers (Barcelona, i A
s persecution perpetuated by the paramilitary Cornellá del Llobregat) that offered training, o n e
u groups of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance technical assistance and research in occupational B
,
A (Triple A) finally dispersed its members. Only health to workers and their unions, especially to v I
T then was it possible to perceive the quickening members of the CCOO. He was professor of C E L pace of political events and the haste to Occupational Medicine at the Universidad O C implement changes and obtain results in the short Autónoma de Barcelona, and later returned to D U
L term. The weak organic and institutional work in Argentina in different agencies and A S insertion that renewal projects such as the IMT positions related to occupational health, for had acquired left them powerless before the example: the Office of Occupational Hygiene immensity of the repressive apparatus set in and Safety (1984-1989); the National Office of motion and with no political reserve to sustain Occupational Health and Safety (1995-1996); itself. The daily work of the Institute had been General Manager of the Occupational Risks prolific but was not enough to establish a turning Superintendency (2003-2005) and Minister of point within the paradigm of occupational Labor and Social Security in the province of Santa medicine. The fight was dual and implied two Fe (from 2007 to date). Roberto Donalisio different timeframes: on one hand, related to the complemented the experience of the IMT in Italy speed of the political events to which the IMT in close connection with MOI advocates. Later, was tied since its foundation; and on the other, in Spain, during the democratic transition, he connected to the rigidity of the academic served as consultant to the Confederacion structures and their dynamic regarding the Sindical Comisiones Obreras (Trade Union renewal of ideas and paradigms. Confederation of Workers’ Commissions) on The continuity and projection of the occupational health and safety matters and later experience of the IMT can be traced in the became Director of Occupational Health of the intellectual and professional biographies of some Navarra administration. of its leaders. Ricardo Saiegh, during his first Despite the abrupt and dramatic years of exile in Madrid, worked with issues of interruption of the activities in the IMT, some of occupational health, serving as consultant to the its members could later develop their Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ professional careers on the basis of the same Commissions (CCOO, Confederacion Sindical de concerns that had brought them to the Institute. Comisiones Obreras ) and later, to the General They were able to expand upon and continue this Workers Union (UGT, Union General de line of inquiry, however, the forced or preventive Trabajadores ), with the aim of encouraging city exile and estrangement they experienced meant councils to take on functions related to the health they had to do so outside of their home country. of workers. He later became involved in the
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 THe InsTITuTo de MedIcIna del TrabaJo (IMT) and worker HealTH 193 S A L U D
C O acknowledGeMenTs L E C T I v A ,
B
This article is part of the project entitled “El Instituto de Medicina del Trabajo y la formación del u e n
pensamiento crítico sanitario durante las décadas de 1960 y 1970 en Argentina” located at the o s
Universidad Nacional de Lanús and financed by the Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y A i r e
Tecnológica, Project PICTO Nº36734. s ,
7 ( 2 ) : We would like to thank the following people for their collaboration in this article: Felipe Aguerre, Luis 1 7 7
Benencio, Silvia Chejter, Rubén Efron, Gilou García Reinoso, Omar Glezer, Estela Giménez, Horacio - 1 9
Kujnisky, Eduardo Menéndez, Carlos Rodríguez, Osvaldo Saidón, Ricardo Saiegh and Mario Testa. 7 ,
M a y
-
A
published in many morning newspapers with u end noTes g u s
national circulation (4). For more on the reforms t , 2
carried out during Rodolfo Puiggros’ 0 1 1 a. It is difficult to create a definitive list of all the administration, see Rodolfo Puiggros (5). people who participated in the different stages of the IMT. The following names – including c. The presence of Montoneros in the members of work teams, participants of specific Universidad de Buenos Aires government activities, collaborators and teachers – were contrasts with its limited presence in other areas drawn from the primary sources uncovered and of power. In the Argentine National Congress the testimonies collected: Alicia Aboy, Felipe there were only eight representatives connected Aguerre, Dalila Becker, Luís Benencio, Silvia to the Montoneros of the 145 belonging to the Berman, Guillermo Bigliani, Carlos Caccioli, Peronist Justicialist Front for National Liberation Rubén Cano, Silvia Chejter, Alberto Cohen, (FREJULI, Frente Justicialista de Liberación Raquel Colombo, Alejandro Cordero, Ángeles Nacional), the coalition that had won the Cotello, José Luis D´alessio, Rubén Díaz, elections and taken office in 1973. In the Roberto Donalisio, Armando Dragún, Rubén executive branch, the influence of left-wing Efron, Gastón Feldstein, Gilou García Reinoso, Peronism was even more limited and brief, with Noemí Ghirardi, Estela Giménez, Omar Gleizer, the short-lived administration of Jorge Taiana as Susana Greco, Omar Guagnini, victoria Korín, Minister of Education and the longer service of Silvia Kosac, Horacio Kujnisky, María Cristina Esteban Righi as Minister of the Interior. The Lennie, Marta Mastrogiacomo, Eduardo provinces of Salta, Santa Cruz, Mendoza, Menéndez, Silvia Mesterman, Jacobo Muhafra, Formosa y Buenos Aires experienced deep Eduardo Ortiz, Liliana Pérez, Eduardo Perugini, conflicts which ended up in a political overhaul Mary Pizzurno, Carlos Pommerenck, Carlos of the majority of these provinces as the Peronist Rachid, Pedro Reggi, Néstor Rodríguez government advanced, for it was considered that Brunengo, Osvaldo Saidón, Ricardo Saiegh, their governors supported the left wing of the Hernando Sala, Remigio Sánchez, Silvio Peronist movement. For an analysis of the Schneck, María del Carmen Scorziello, Roberto relation between the Peronist government and Sica, Carlos Silva, Ana Singerman, Estela Testa, these provinces, see Alicia Servetto (7p. 73-76). Mario Testa, Norma vallejos, Ana ventura, Ramón villar. d. In one of his first speeches, Mario Testa, as dean of the overhaul in the Faculty of Medicine, b. In almost all the faculties of the UBA, research makes explicit his agreement with and support of projects were started, new courses and chairs the Unified National Health Program. were created, and programs were carried out that aimed at renewing the profile of the university. e. For a detailed description of the conflicts in the For example, the Institute of Applied Economics Greater Buenos Aires area, see Ruth Werner and was created in the Faculty of Economic Sciences Facundo Aguirre (13). The Social Pact, signed in and the First Conference of Popular Housing June 1973 between Cámpora’s government and Experiences was held in the Faculty of the Argentine General Confederation of Labor Architecture and Urbanism. In most cases, the (CGT, Confederación General del Trabajo), the projects were difficult to develop and had weak General Economic Confederation (CGE, levels of institutional implementation. For a more Confederación General Economica) and other minute account of the Universidad de Buenos business sectors, sought to control the Aires during the different Peronist administrations inflationary spiral and suspended rights to see Aritz Recalde and Iciar Recalde (3). Also see collective negotiation regarding salaries in order the account solicited of Ricardo Saiegh and to delegate them exclusively to the CGT. In this
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 194 MarTIn al, spInellI H. 1 1 0 2 , t s u g
u way the Pact acknowledged the political Association (Asociación Obrera Minera A
-
importance of worker organization while at the Argentina), the Electroacoustics Laboratory of the y a same time tying that organization to a consensus Faculty of Engineering and with the M
,
7 process with businessmen. Undersecretariat of Public Health of the province 9 1 - of Jujuy. 7 7 1
: f. Juan “Chango” Sosa was a musician who ) 2 (
7 became part of the proletariat and later became a j. According to IMT members, there were
, s
e trade union leader of Astarsa Shipyards. He approximately 40 people working at the IMT, r i A
headed the group that occupied the plant in the some of whom received a salary and had s o
n locality of Tigre in 1973. The conflict was teaching positions within the Faculty of Medicine e u resolved in favor of the workers during the first (26, 27). B
,
A days of Cámpora’s government, and one of the v I
T demands met was the formation of a Hygiene k. Their condition as political exiles facilitated the C E
L Commission made up of plant workers, in which integration of these professionals into the IMT. O
C Luis Benencio took part. Sosa was a member of Some professors voluntarily shared with them the
D Los Obreros, an armed independent group, and salary paid them by the university (28). U L
A he joined the Peronist Working Youth (Juventud S Trabajadora Peronista). Luis Benencio kept up the l. The Pirquitas Mining Company is located in relationship between the IMT and Astarsa Rinconada, a department in the northeast of the Shipyards during 1973 and 1974 (15). province of Jujuy at an altitude over 4000 meters. It employed more than 500 workers in mining g. The Introductory Seminar on Occupational activity but concentrated more than 2500 people Medicine was delivered between August and including the workers’ families and the staff October 1973. Estela Gimenez and Ana working in administrative and other tasks related Singerman, toxicologists and professors at the to the mine. University of Buenos Aires, and Alejandro Cordero, dermatologist, were invited to deliver m. Private communication with Osvaldo Saidón the seminar. Engineers from the National Office in Buenos Aires, in October 2010 and May 2011. of Industrial Hygiene and Safety and lawyers specialized in labor legislation were also invited n. A previous version of this research was to participate (20 p.28-29). presented at the International Conference of Occupational Medicine held in Buenos Aires in h. At the end of 1973, Peronism was already 1972 and provoked a series of discussions that expressing deep conflicts between the youngest led to the repudiation on the part of a group of left-wing sectors of the movement and the right- doctors, including Ricardo Saiegh, of what was wing sectors of the party, which became more happening there. They claimed that the event evident after the events that took place in Ezeiza, avoided responding to workers’ real health Cámpora’s resignation and the assassination of problems in underdeveloped countries and Ignacio Rucci, the General Secretary of the CGT. ignored the conditions of exploitation they were The Universidad de Buenos Aires was not outside undergoing. This group of dissident the reach of these conflicts. In October 1973, professionals, formed in opposition to the Rodolfo Puiggrós was forced to resign his organizers of the Conference, attributed the position as rector and after the brief and resisted character of the conference to company interests administration of Alberto Banfi that led to the and to doctors with ties to these companies who occupation of several faculties, Ernesto were present at the event. (30). villanueva was appointed to fill the vacant position. The new rector was a young sociologist o. Eduardo Menéndez, Rubén Efrón and Roberto who had been, until that moment, the Academic Donalisio all spoke of the experience but Secretary of the UBA and militant in the Peronist expressed different versions of the meeting in Armed Forces (FAP, Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas) which the sexual disorders were brought to light. and Montoneros (3 p.296-297). According to Roberto Donalisio (32), it was a worker’s wife who mentioned the situation but i. Research agreements were signed with the according to Eduardo Menéndez (27) and Ruben Workers Union of Fiat Caseros (SITRAFIC), the Efron (19), it was mentioned by one of the Federation of Argentine Telephone Workers and affected workers. Employees (FOETRA, Federacion de Obreros y Empleados Telefónicos de la Republica Argentina p. Eduardo Menéndez affirmed that he from Buenos Aires), the Argentine Association of incorporated IMT experiences with metallurgical Telegraphists (Asociación Argentina de workers, the miners from Pirquitas and bus Telegrafistas) , the Argentine Mine Workers drivers (a project initiated by the Institute but
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334 THe InsTITuTo de MedIcIna del TrabaJo (IMT) and worker HealTH 195 S A L U D
C O developed outside of it because of the university Occupational Studies, as cited by Federico L E C
overhaul in 1974 that interrupted its activities) to Lorenz (15 p.119). See also the interview with T I v elaborate the notion of the Hegemonic Medical Luis Benencio in 2010 (37). A ,
Model. He first published this concept as preface B u e to the book La salud en la fabrica by F. Basaglia s. One of the first descriptions of work n o s
(34); the revised and updated version was later environment was published in 1965 in Ressegna A i r published by Salud Colectiva (35). Other Sindicale (38). It centered on the organization of e s , members of the IMT finished their occupational the labor and the pressure and overexploitation it 7 ( 2 ) : health training abroad in years to follow, for meant for workers. Four characteristic groups 1 7 7
example Roberto Donalisio in Italy and Carlos were described: the first included temperature, - 1 9
Rodriguez in Spain. For more on Roberto humidity, noise, lighting, pressure, etc.; the 7 ,
Donalisio’s work after the experience of the IMT, second included the levels of concentration of M a y the interview conducted with him in 2011 can be dust, gas, steam; the third made reference to -
A consulted (32). physical fatigue; and the fourth dealt with the u g u
psychological effects or disruptions to the s t , q. Kujnisky is an engineer and was member of the biological rhythm such as posture and pace of 2 0 1
IMT engineering team. He participated in work (38 p.19). 1 research on noise in industry work and in agreements made between the faculties of t. We stress this particularity, because during the Medicine and Engineering of the University of years prior to the experience described herein, Buenos Aires. there were projects developed that focused on worker control and participation in companies r. Comment made by “Jaimito” (Luis Benencio) in but did not include control over hygiene and the Navales working group with former Astarsa safety issues within the industries. workers (May 1988) held in the Center of
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Received: 10 April 2011 | Final version presented: 17 June 2011 | Accepted: 15 July 2010
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This article was translated as a part of an interdepartmental collaboration between the Bachelor's Program in Sworn Translation of English Language and the Institute of Collective Health within the Universidad Nacional de Lanús. The article was translated by Patricia velázquez, reviewed by María victoria Illas, and modified for publication by vanessa Di Cecco.
Universidad Nacional de Lanús | Salud Colectiva | English Edition ISSN 2250-5334