The workers movement in Bolivia has had many advances and setbacks in the past decades, not just in relation to workers rights, but also relating to its identity.

Many factories have created precarious working conditions, the days of overtime and Sunday pay are now ancient history, covered over by the dust of the free market’s attack on existing labor law.

This is the history of Manaco, a subsidiary of the transnational shoe company Bata that has implemented various mechanisms of exploitation based on creating fear among its employees via subtle threats, coercion and security cameras and photographers placed at worker meetings and protests.

One of the victims of Manaco’s hard-line policy is Alejandro Saravia, a 54 year-old worker who has spent 27 of those in the factory. He has been unjustly fired, let go without the advance notice required by Bolivian law. Alejandro, along with all the other Manaco workers, had already seen his senior bonus pay disappear years ago, and is no longer justly compensated for overtime—in marked difference from the foreman and administrators who are paid for literally every extra minute of work.

The salary difference between the workers and these foremaen is also appalling: the former being paid 688 bolivianos per month (less than $100 monthly) and the latter receiving around 20,000 bolivianos (almost $3,000).

As of June 30, Alejandro Saravia, along with leaders from the Manaco union and leaders of the Factory Workers of Cochabamba, including Oscar Olivera, have been on a hunger strike demanding respect and dignity for the workers and to expose the servile character of the actual Manaco union that refuses to defend the workers but rather serves the interests of the Manaco owners.

This strike honors the tradition of struggle, dignity and brotherhood of the original Manaco union—a union that was a leading player in various past struggles including the Water War.

The strike continues today and the conflict is getting deeper. In the coming days, various protests will take place, according to the strikers who are defending the worker of Manaco though not a part of the factory workforce themselves.