At 3:48 pm every day, the workers leave the Santa Isabel factory in Córdoba, Argentina. Today, however, the mood is sombre. Some 1,400 Renault workers have been laid off for two weeks.

 

The credit crunch and its consequences have been the focus of most conversations. The car industry is usually the first to suffer in times of crisis. Renault axed 300 posts here last week.

 

"For everybody here it’s a critical moment, with a lot of anxiety and of course fear about losing their jobs", said Marcos Sosa, a trade union delegate.

 

2008 was supposed to end well, with the launch of a new model and hiring of extra staff. But the collapse of exports to Brazil and Mexico has caused disappointment and 14 days of forced leave.

 

"We are going to make the most of the situation, have fun with the family," Pablo Calapeña, a young Renault worker, jokes tentatively.

 

On his way home, Pablo is putting on a brave face. Having fun with two thirds of his income is not really what he expected. Neither did his family and friends. Here, when Renault stumbles, the whole local economy suffers.

 

"It is like a chain reaction. First the head is affected and then the rest of the body. So because I work for a large group with thousands of employees, everybody is asking about how things are going," Pablo explains.

 

His three-month-pregnant wife Sandra is preoccupied: "Of course we are worried about the situation. We talk about it a lot. Lately, I’ve been praying to God to help us. Because all the plans we’d made might come to nothing."

 

Recently married Pablo is not yet a full-time Renault employee. He is one of the 500 casual labourers at the factory, 300 of which were among the first to be dismissed.

 

To get over the anxiety and the anger, he joins his colleagues after work. On the corner of the street, they share a beer and get a few things off their chests.

 

"It is unfair. If you work for Renault, you should belong to Renault and be treated like everyone else. Full-time or temporary, we are all in the same boat. Because we are all doing the same work, right?", says Ariel Navarro, a part-time worker.

 

Everybody seems to agree with him when he says the crisis came from "the rich countries": “The consequences will be felt throughout the whole community. With less income, we will all spend less, we won’t buy the same things at the supermarket. All sales are going to drop, and so on."

 

The automobile industry has been considered the driving force behind Argentina’s economic recovery since 2003. But its engine has now broken down. All the local manufacturers are planning production cuts in December.