The president of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic, affirmed on Thursday that the company workers will be deducted the amount of union hours used above what is established in the month of December.
The agreement between the company and affiliated workers had been renewed every year since 1993 and was designed for the number of employees that the entity had at that time —about 6,000, compared to just over 2,000 today—.
The framework agreement was denounced by the company last August, and since December, half an hour of union leave per affiliated official has been applied until there is a new agreement. In the case of Ancap, that meant 749 union hours available, but “they ended up using more than 1,100”, according to what Stipanicic told the Quien es Quien program on Diamante FM and Channel 5.
On the other hand, the hierarch harshly criticized the attitude of the union (Fancap) for the refinery shutdown in december and for involving campaign against the LU between their activities. Regarding the strike, he did not rule out making a union trial for the money lost during its duration.
The head of the entity stated that the refinery shutdown was not planned and that Although the strike lasted 24 hours, “the refinery did not return to operating as it had been operating until 11 days later”, so Ancap had to import refined fuel. “What is essential for the country is that the fuel gets where it needs to go. How it gets there or where it comes from is not important, what matters is that there is fuel where it should be and when it should be,” he justified.
The engineer estimated that the losses due to the December strike were US$ 2.3 million “to be conservative, to manage a number that we can calculate and defend.” Asked about the possibility of doing a civil suit to the union to collect that sum, Stipanicic affirmed that he is under analysis and that “It is a possibility that is not ruled out“. He stated that it is a matter of measuring costs and benefits, but “if there is a well-defined responsibility and the benefit is that justice is done, we will go that way“. When the journalist asked if by claiming US$ 2.3 million from Fancap “it melts it”, admitted: “And well… yes, let’s say yes”.
Diego Battiste
However, he also considered that one of the limitations to resort to this measure is that there has to be a “day after” in the relationship between the company and Fancap, and claimed that “Society’s condemnation of such a measure must be very harsh. (…) It did not cost Ancap US$2.3 million, this cost society“, he assured.
The last time the refinery was stopped due to union measures was almost half a century ago, in July 1973, during the coup d’état. Stipanicic supported that action because, according to what he said, he was “in a situation where the most essential freedoms that human beings have had fallen” and it seemed correct “as a freedom-loving and profoundly republican citizen,” but last December did not merit “the dimension of unemployment and its consequences”. “The ILO standards say that there is a certain limitation, that they are common sense, for things that are essential for society,” he argued. The repercussions of the previous strike “are in that line”.
