Agitated session in the Legislature
The climate became more and more confrontational until, on December 6th, 2005, the bills came up for a vote on the floor.
Kravetz’s bill did not get enough votes to be approved, and above all, to defeat Morando’s bill. This bill was presented to counter the one that sought to expropriate the hotel for workers, providing a “voteable” facade for various legislators with a certain agenda.
Federico Tornarelli explains:
The proposed bill called the two parts in conflict – which was Iurcovich’s first big mistake, because the two parts in conflict were the cooperative and the legal owner of the building, because the court had not yet determined that it belonged to Mercoteles. However, Morando is written to call the two parts in conflict Mercoteles and the cooperative.
To evaluate the points raised by the parts, a commission of seven legislators, distributed proportionally between the blocs, was created. “Meaning that the commission was going to be majority Macri supporters,” adds Federico. This commission was going to call the two parts to negotiate an agreement.
But that agreement was unacceptable for the cooperative. Among it points was turnover of the building to Mercoteles. “There was three or four points that were not negotiable,” says Federico, “the first being surrender of the property.” The majority Macri supporters brought this bill to the floor to be dealt with, while expropriation was stalled in committee.
On the 6 of December, then, both bills were in conflict, but Morando’s had a large advantage. A large rally accompanied the members of the cooperative to the door of the chamber. Seeing the circumstances, the workers, together with the MNER, held an assembly to define their strategy.