Supra’s 24-hour national strike (Unique Port Union and Related Branches) of this Thursday and Friday generated delays in the entrances to the port and caused at least two ships to leave without all the cargo.
The measure began at 3:00 p.m. last Thursday and was extended until 3:00 p.m. this Friday by the port operators. The president of the Montecon union and member of the Supra board, Martín García, told The Observer that other port officials remain unemployed.
“The port warehouse that began today (the strike) at seven in the morning will continue until tomorrow at seven. The extra-port warehouses that began today at 1 p.m. will extend until tomorrow at 1 p.m. and the public administration will stop on Monday from seven in the morning until Tuesday at seven in the morning”, confirmed the union leader.
Regarding the protest measures, García said that “there is a ship in TCP that is still waiting to work, waiting for the measures to be lifted.” In addition, he added that there is another ship that “was working at the public docks in Montecon” and “decided to leave, not finish the unloading that it had for imports for Uruguay and left the exports that it had to take with it.”
“The rest of the ships have waited and have continued with their loads once the measures were lifted,” said García, who commented that the entry of trucks to the port had “a normal flow beyond the delays.”
The union leader preferred not to “quantify the delays”, while the Intergremial de Transporte Profesional de Cargo (ITPC) commented to The Observer that there was “an impressive tail”.
The president of the Intergremial de Transporte Profesional de Transporte Terrestre del Uruguay (ITPC), Ignacio Asumendi, said that on Friday afternoon there was “a queue of five or six kilometers that went from the start of the port to the (stadium) Troccoli”.
According to Asumendi, “practically between 400 and 500 trucks at least” were delayed. “One Evergreen ship left without all the cargo, another ship carrying containers was diverted to Argentina,” he added.
From ITPC they hope that the Ministry of Labor reaches a negotiation to unlock the conflict and that the public administration talks with the operators to extend the days of withdrawal without costs to clients,
The origin of the conflict
According to union sources, the conflict in the port is – among other points – over the signing of the extension of the concession between the government and Katoen Natie for Terminal Cuenca del Plata (TCP). This caused a drop in the activity of Montecon, which also loads and unloads containers, but in the public areas of the port of Montevideo.
Photo: Leonardo Carreno.
Entry of trucks to the port of Montevideo
As a result, 150 workers were sent to unemployment insurance. TCP promised to hire 110 of them who went on to form a job bank. So far, it has reinserted 77 workers and the rest will enter during the next year.
But The union also claims aspects in inland ports, mainly in Fray Bentos and PaysandúAccording to the Supra, work is needed in both ports and in the case of Fray Bentos, the work baskets were withdrawn from the officials.
