The union of the Montecon port company defined this Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to stop for 24 hours, that is, until 7:00 p.m. on Friday, due to the conflict over the announcement of the 150 layoffs announced by the company that is in charge of the docks Montevideo public.
In relation to this, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Pablo Mieres, said that “today there are no layoffs on the table”, but in the afternoon, the president of the Montecon union, Martín García, declared to the newspaper The country that “the Ministry (of Labor) withdrew its proposals.” The outlet also reported that related sources said that the MTSS could not reaffirm in writing that the sources of work are going to be maintained, and that is what led to the strike.
Additionally, the sources cited would have asserted that the MTSS asked Montecon not to reduce the number of wages per month for the workers who were not dismissed and to keep them on average at 25. The company had said that they were going to lower the number to 15. wages per month.
Montecon has expressed its annoyance at the losses generated by the agreement between the government of Luis Lacalle Pou and the Belgian company Katoen Natie, which gives it priority in the arrival and departure of containers.
According Underlined, the relocation of at least 110 workers would be on the way, who would be absorbed by Katoen Natie, instead of the 77 that the consortium had originally offered. These are added to the 50 that would go to the National Ports Administration (ANP) and others that would be transferred to other projects in the port of Montevideo, such as the UPM paper mill dock.