Authorities from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) met this Friday afternoon with leaders of the Single Port Union and Related Branches (Supra) and they asked for “time to work on the negotiation” of the conflict in Monteconsaid Minister Pablo Mieres in statements to the press. “The deadlines are over” countered the president of the Montecon union, Martín García, in dialogue with The Observer.
The workers will wait until this Saturday morning.when they will meet to define possible measures to be taken if the MTSS does not send them “something concrete” about the proposal for which they requested timeadded the leader.
“They asked us until Tuesday night if we could appease either not specify the measures, if we had them planned, to work more calmly. We told them we needed something concrete to happen to people (in reference to unionized workers). We are waiting for that,” Garcia said. Based on the proposal, the union will analyze whether to “change the sequence of measures” or maintain them, Garcia said.
The union has prepared a “battery of measures” that it will announce in case of disagreement about how the negotiation is progressing. It is the product of the port company Montecon announced this Tuesday at a meeting between the partieswho had decided to fire 150 workers and lower up to 50% wages of the employees remaining on the payroll.
“The explanation is that they have lost one of the services they had, it implies a drop in activityexplained Mieres this Friday, referring to the conflict in the Montecon companyoriginated by the government agreement with Katoen Natie that allowed the extension until 2081 of the Terminal Cuenca del Plata (TCP) concession in the port of Montevideo.
The minister said: “There is a restructuring of the distribution of jobs, which affects workers. The way to solve it is to find a way so that the workers are not affected. We have time to work on negotiation, dialogue and the search for solutions”.
