This Monday night two criminals entered to rob the Ta-Ta supermarket on Maggiolo and Figueira streets, Parque Rodó. They reduced their clients, one of them guarded the door, and the other took a security guard and Marcelo Demestoy, the 56-year-old manager of the premises, to the warehouse. After taking $4,000 of the proceeds, the thief shot and killed the manager.
Both people from the Ta-Ta company sphere and from the workplace mourned the death of Demestoy. Leonel Bianqui, president of the Single Multi-Savings Union (SUM), told The Observer that Marcelo was a manager with “good contact with the workers, even when he looked after the interests of the company” that he was considered as one more “comrade”.
In addition, he reported that he was the father of Micaela, a girl who had leukemia and managed to recover thanks to her treatment at the Pérez Scremini Foundation. In a foundation publication that Bianqui shared with The ObserverDemestoy is seen painting the bars of the foundation’s headquarters.
“He came over one day, and told us about his need to collaborate with us, in his free time, doing some maintenance task. It is like this, that for a few weeks, Marcelo has attended the Foundation on his days off, and has dedicated himself to to sand and paint our fence,” wrote Pérez Scremini in a Facebook post posted on January 21, 2014.
“I owe you a lot and it is the least I can do for you, after what you have done for my family,” were Demestoy’s statements collected by the organization.
Former employee of Multiahorro
In a statement published this Monday after the murder, the Ta-Ta company regretted the murder of the worker, whom it defined as “a valuable collaborator with more than 22 years of service” in the company who “was the victim of an act of violence without sense”.
A few years ago, the manager had moved to Ta-Ta from Multiahorro, when the supermarket chain acquired the home appliance company. Until recently, Demestoy was also in charge of Ta-Ta de Pocitos, but his good performance earned him a transfer to the Parque Rodó branch.
Magdalena Mutio, manager of Ta-Ta, expressed to The Observer that Demestoy was “a family man” and a “super responsible” worker for years in the chain, and described his death as a “great sadness”.
Fabio Riverón, president of the Uruguayan Federation of Commerce and Services Employees (Fuecys), told The Observer that the union was present at the scene after the murder, and the supermarket workers stressed that Demestoy was “someone very dear”, that he had “a long time in the chain”.
“He is a worker who said goodbye to his family and left home early and did not return,” added the unionist.
He stressed that the workers are “very affected” by the situation, and assured that Fuecys will accompany both them and the manager’s family. In addition, he indicated that the company promised to provide “psychological support” to the employees of the place where the tragedy occurred.
“Our team of human resources and health professionals are working to offer the emotional support needed during this difficult time. We are committed to fully cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation,” the network wrote in the statement.
The union warned Ta-Ta of the need to “be attentive” to the different “reactions” of these workers in the coming days, in an atypical situation.
The meeting on security at the Ministry of Labor
Riverón declared that in recent days Fuecys held a meeting with Ta-Ta authorities in which they discussed “security.”
One of the issues that was on the table was the one that Bianqui criticized in a press conference this Monday, after the murder: the closing hours of the premises. “We have stores that close at 12:00 a.m., others at 11:00 p.m. In dangerous areas, in Piedras Blancas, before they closed at 9:00 p.m. and now they close at 10:00 p.m. We are risking the lives of the workers “, he expressed.
The meeting between Fuecys and the company “remained in the fourth intermission,” explained Riverón, who lamented that “there are no recipes” to combat current violence, in a “complicated social context” in which “life is worth little.”
The president of SUM said that the union will meet this morning in assembly to define the steps to follow in the face of the situation, and reiterated that “for a long time” they have been demanding improvements in the company’s security policy.
According to Bianqui, since February the company raised the possibility that some branches had 24-hour employees, and the union claimed that they were “exposed.” This discussion has been going on for months and will continue on Friday, when the company and union meet again at the Ministry of Labor.
“What we had been warning about could happen, happened,” criticized the trade unionist.
