Chilean fruit producers and exporters are warning that a strike by workers at the Port of San Antonio could cause significant losses for the industry. Members of the Maritime Port Workers’ Federation of Costanera Espigón (Fetraportces) began their latest indefinite walkout on Saturday after failing to reach an agreement with port managers over shift patterns.
Asoex president Ronald Bown told Emol: “It is essential that the authorities and private sector firms involved step in immediately to prevent conflicts such as these which are once again threatening to cause serious damage to the country”.
Juan Carolus Brown, president of producer association Fedefruta, pointed out that the fruit industry had not only had to absorb the losses caused by strikes in 2013 and 2014 but had also agreed to a pay new tax to fund commitments made by the state to retroactive payments to port workers and to prevent further strikes such as the current action.
“As the ones footing the bill we are appealing to those involved to respect the agreements that have been put in place,” he said.
Brown called on Fetraportces president Diego Silva to honour a commitment made by the unions in October that they would not impede fruit from being loaded at the Port of San Antonio in the event of future strike action.
Silva told Emol that the walkout will impact all cargo including containers, bulk products and fruit exports and could affect up to 35 per cent of cargo handled by the Puerto Central concession. However, sources at the port said the figure was closer to 10 per cent of the port’s total traffic.
