Next Tuesday, March 8, the PIT-CNT will hold a 24-hour general strike, to which all the unions affiliated to the central will adhere, among them the Ancap Federation (Fancap). Less than a week after the strike, it is still not defined what will happen to the operations of the La Teja refinery that day. It is that after the denunciation of the collective agreement by Ancap last November a regulatory vacuum was created that left without effect the union guards for the continuous processes of that industry.
This Friday the president of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic, will meet with representatives of the union to try to find an agreement. The proposal made by the entity will then be put to the consideration of the union’s representative assembly, which will decide how it will act on the day of the strike.
In dialogue with The Observer the president of Fancap, Gerardo Rodríguez, affirmed that the situation “It can lead to something similar” to what happened on December 7 when the La Teja plant was stopped. “Tomorrow there is a meeting in which perhaps something can be unlocked, but now we are very worried,” said the trade unionist.
“There is no collective agreement. That’s the thing. The figure of the union guard is enshrined in the collective agreement that is the guarantee, let’s say, of the exercise of the right to strike and not stop the refinery. We always repeat that we have the will for that to happen, but for that to happen we have to have an agreement and today it is not the responsibility of the union not to have it,” said Rodríguez.
The La Teja refinery stopped on December 7 for the first time since the return to democracy. On that occasion and in the framework of a strike, the union decided not to send the union guards. That happened a few days after the company dropped the collective agreement. The agreement also included some benefits for the workers that the entity decided to withdraw.
The stoppage at the refinery led to a breakdown in the catalytic cracking process when the machinery was restarted, which delayed the full start-up of the plant for 11 days.. This generated a crossing of accusations between the entity and the workers. The company and the government blamed the union for the breakage, while Fancap indicated that the shutdown was carried out in accordance with established procedures and protocols. The company estimated losses of at least US$2.3 million.
Leonardo Carreno
Days ago Ancap issued a statement in which it stated that the agreement with Fancap fell due to the “breach” of the union leadership. For example, “it did not respect” the 48-hour notice to communicate union measures and “it even communicated measures when they were already in progress.” It was also pointed out that “not always” the union “complied” with the guards requested during union measures.
Currently there are several open conflict fronts. One is tied to the portland business. While the company has already decided to incorporate a private partner, the union is in favor of keeping it under state management. Another point of discrepancy is the reduction in the number of union hours.
The union is also a staunch opponent of the comprehensive reform of the fuel market carried out by the Executive Power. In particular, the new mechanism for setting import parity prices (PPI) included in the Urgent Consideration Law, which will be submitted to a referendum on March 27, is rejected. Fancap was one of the first unions to promote the referendum against the LUC.
