A mass meeting of stevedores in the Port of Santos, the largest in Brazil, decided on Saturday to continue the strike which had entered its 5th consecutive day. The atmosphere on the quay was tense, marked by dockers’ protests.
Escorted by the police, the selectors from OGMO (órgão Gestor de Mão-de-Obra) turned up at the port yet again to choose workers, but the dockers did not answer the call.
According to A Tribuna newspaper in Santos, dockers closed off the Dock road to protest the transfer of selection of stevedores to Ogmo. The demonstrators set tyres alight in the road and erected barricades. The protest was contained by the Military Police and Fire Service.
On Thursday, the president of the São Paulo Regional Labour Tribunal (TRT) Francisco Antonio de Oliveira ruled that the dockers must return to work, on pain of a R$50,000 daily fine to the union.
The stoppage is due to a disagreement over the selection of stevedores. Their union has organised the list for 70 years, but lost the authority to carry out this role as the Court ruled in favour of Ogmo. The stevedores, however, do not agree to have the selection carried out by this organisation.
