The milk producers met this Wednesday with Luis Lacalle Pouin an instance where presented to the President of the Republic the opinion of the dairy farmers on the conflict that persists in the industry sector dairy.
Néstor Cabrera, vice president of the National Association of Milk Producers (ANPL), commented that the meeting lasted for an hour, that it was held in the Executive Tower and that there “We explain why we milk producers understand that the industrial sector has done everything possible to move forward and reach an agreement, yielding on many things, when it is clear that the union has not had the same attitude”.
All of this is framed by a dispute that, within the framework of the Salary Councils, has lasted for several months with the intermediation of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) between the two parties, the Chamber of the Dairy Industry of Uruguay (CILU) and the Federation of Dairy Industry Workers (FTIL).
Cabrera commented, on the one hand, that representatives of half a dozen unions that bring together dairy farmers attended this meeting with Lacalle Pou, who together also represented the rest of the unions in the sector at the meeting.
On the other hand, he said, This meeting is part of a sequence of meetings that the dairy farmers have decided to have in order to express their points of view on the conflict.. Already there were previously meetings with the Labor Commission of Deputies and with the Minister of LaborPablo Mieres, while The meetings with the Senate Labor Commission and with the PIT-CNT remain to be held.based on hearings already requested.
The vice president of the ANPL, regarding the meeting with Lacalle Pou, explained: “We told him that the producers’ associations are very concerned about a conflict that is not resolved and that, as always when there is this type of conflict, it ends up affecting the price of the milk we receive”.
He added that the unions support what has been done by the industrial sector, “because it has advanced a lot by conceding, without there being the same attitude on the part of the workers who have the proposal for improvements in every sense and refuse to sign a peace clause”.
The delegates of the producers’ entities were satisfied that now the president has the producers’ version.
“We explain everything to you and ask you to do everything in your power to solve this”he added.
What did the president tell you about? Cabrera commented that he conveyed “full support for our position, because” he understands it to be fair..
“They miss the truth”
On the state of mind of the farmers in relation to the conflict, Cabrera detailed: “The hope that this will be resolved is always there, but we see that the conflict is spreading, that the industry has made all the efforts for the economic improvement that was proposed and the union refuses to sign a peace clause that is totally necessary”.
He added that there are statements by the union to public opinion that “in some way are untrue”.
On whether there were cases of producers who have lost milk as a result of union mobilizations, he said that “there were some small delays” in the withdrawal of production, but he specified that “the main loss is due to the drop in the sale of high-value products , in our case of Conaprole, is what they are blocking”.
That, he explained, “ends up influencing Conaprole’s accounts and in the end ends up affecting the price of milk, which is the result after paying all the costs; If the industry loses sales and loses efficiency due to this conflict, that will affect us producers“.
“an abuse”
Finally, Cabrera considered the issue of the notices that the union made in relation to directly informing the markets to which Uruguay exports about the conflict: “That is an abuse and an act of total irresponsibility, they are even attacking their own sources of work, when they threaten to block exports or send letters to embassies asking them not to buy Uruguayan dairy, they are affecting the interests not only of Conaprole and dairy in general, they are affecting the country”.
