The shortage of some dairy products was accentuated on the closing of this week, in several points of sale, according to a set of complaints that from the commerce sector have transferred to Conaprole, the great supplier of the market.
In the shops they reported that what is most lacking is fresh milk, other milks and various milk by-products.
Based on a survey carried out by The Observerthe adversity had been expressed in previous days, even since last week, but it has increased recently and it will be worse if union measures persistaccording to sources linked to the main national dairy cooperative.
All this happens within the framework of salary proposals made by the working sector, accompanied by measures of struggle such as working according to regulations, without doing overtime or performing tasks that are not their own.
This Thursday there was a new tripartite meeting, with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) as mediator, without a solution.
Representatives from the Chamber of Dairy Industries of Uruguay (CILU) and the Federation of Dairy Industry Workers (FTIL) participated.
A first estimate by Conaprole indicates that the drop in marketing and distribution in some days has reached 40%.
The nuisance reaches dairy farmers, industries, distributors and merchants. Daniel Fernández, president of Cambadu, told VTV that “for Cambadu this is death”.
He indicated that this week businesses received products every other day and always less merchandise. That, for example in neighborhood stores, is especially serious since the consumer goes there to look for milk and on that trip also buys other products, he explained.
Fernandez pointed out that “bars” in the neighborhood sell 80 to 200 liters of milk and a larger self-service store about 400 to 500 liters.
The problem also affects large surfaces. In one of the Ta-Ta supermarkets, a poster was exhibited these days explaining to the customer what is happening.
The sign at one of the Ta-Ta branches.
The measures of the union, the Association of Workers and Employees of Conaprole (AOEC), affiliated to the FTIL, are expressed mainly in the Montevideo Industrial Complex (CIM).
as he knew The Observer, there at this time of the year, 320,000 m3 of milk are processed every day in two shifts and this Thursday, April 28, 194,000 m3 were processed in three shifts; At the same time, every day 100 m3 of ultra-pasteurized milk are processed in two shifts and the processing this Thursday was just 14 thousand m3 in three shifts.
In the last tripartite meeting there were no agreements.
This week Conaprole’s board of directors sent an internal communication, sent to all staff, in which he denounced that the alteration of the normal work pace by CIM workers affected the supply of fresh milk and by-products. In that statement, other considerations, it was indicated: “We are not going to accept threats, impositions or authoritarianism”, alluding to the union.
The annoyance is of the merchants, but also in other links of the chain.
The dairy farmers, grouped in different producers’ unions, had expressed themselves before. In their statement, they defined the Conaprole workers’ union as “radical”, also lying, and asked the Conaprole leadership, the national authorities and the PIT-CNT “to defend our rights as rural workers.”
All this happened after, in a workers’ assembly, the FTIL declared itself in conflict and warned about stoppages, including a 24-hour stoppage that has not happened and even blocking export activity of dairy products.
There is a lack of fresh milk, other milk and by-products.
