Two months after Argentina’s midterm elections, an otherwise placid political scene has been transformed by the struggle of six hundred workers for the right to keep their jobs.

The mostly women workers of the PepsiCo manufacturing plant in Buenos Aires occupied their factory in response to mass layoffs by the multinational. Supported by the organizations of the far left, they have been able to galvanize an important resistance to both the multinational and the conservative government of Mauricio Macri. Beyond offering an inspiring example of workers fighting back, the struggle has important lessons for how an independent left allied with resisting workers can have an impact far beyond its polling numbers.

When they arrived at work on June 20 at the PepsiCo Plant in the western suburbs of the country’s capital, workers faced a devastating surprise. A flyer was posted on the locked gates announcing that the plant was closing and that their services as workers were no longer needed.