Donnelley Closes Argentina Plant, 400 Jobs Lost

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA—Employees of RR Donnelley's production plant here arrived for work last Monday, only to find the gates locked and a note on the front door informing them that their services were no longer required.

According to the Associated Press, the note read, in part, "We profoundly regret to inform you that, confronted by an insurmountable crisis and having considered all the viable alternatives, we are closing our operations in Argentina."

The sudden closure left the shop's approximately 400 workers without jobs. The plant produced a number of high-circulation magazines.

A number of the workers staged a protest that included lighting tires on fire and beating on drums. Its union met with Minister of Labor Carlos Tomado Tuesday in the hopes of finding a solution to keep the plant open. While Tomado pledged his support, it was revealed that Argentina's courts had approved Donnelley's bankruptcy plea, the Buenos Aires Herald reported.

The company had recently offered a deal to let 123 workers go and cut salaries, but the measures were rejected by the federal and provincial Labor Ministries.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner turned the relatively small business footnote in her country into a round of political football, calling the closure a "real case of fraudulent behavior and an attempt to intimidate the population," she was quoted as saying by Reuters. As such, Kirchner said that Donnelley may be in violation of the country's anti-terrorism law, enacted in 2011.

She accused Donnelley of being linked to foreign hedge funds, which have battled the country in court, resulting in Argentina's default in July.