Piedra Alta in Florida was the venue this morning for the official act on the occasion of the 197th anniversary of the declaration of Independence, but it was also a space for claims. Several unions of workers met to make demonstrationsamong them the Frigocerro workers, who left Durazno on Monday in a march on foot that their destination is the Executive Tower, and that they went to Florida in search of President Luis Lacalle Pou.
This Wednesday, August 24, the workers arrived in Canelones, where they met with Mayor Yamandú Orsi and the general director of the Canelones Municipal Government, to explain their claims against the company. The hierarchs, as well as other authorities with whom they have met, told them that the issue should be discussed with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), he told The Observer the president of the Federation of Workers of the Meat and Allied Industries (Foica), Martin Cardozo.
The march on foot stopped on Wednesday. The workers spent the night in Canelones and this Thursday they traveled to Florida by bus to get to the event.
Camilo Dos Santos
The workers will mobilize in Montevideo if Lacalle Pou does not receive them.
Mobilization in Montevideo
In order to meet with the President of the Republic, the guild arrived in Piedra Alta this morning. In the place, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Pablo Mieres, informed the press that a meeting was coordinated between the ministry, the federation and the PIT-CNT, although that is not what the workers requested.
The president of the Foica indicated that the objective of the march was to ask Lacalle Pou for a solution, and reported that the meeting announced by Mieres is “conditional” on what happens this morning with the president.
If the president does not confirm that he will receive them, this Friday they will gather in front of the MTSS headquarters and march to the Executive Tower.
“We seek justice and we find impunity and complicity,” highlights one of the posters that the union members took to Florida.
These workers claim that the company has fired workers for being linked to the unionthey also claim that the firm does not comply with labor regulations and salary agreements already agreed, and benefits from a declaration of departmental interest that gives it tax benefits, such as license exemption and vehicle insurance, a benefit that extends since 2009.
The company informed The Observer that the dismissals had been made, on the one hand, because a worker had altered products, and on the other hand, because of “low performance” by a worker in the maintenance area.
Within the framework of this conflict between the union and the company, there have been several strikes in the refrigeration industry.
