On the heels of protest actions over the Easter weekend by Chilean stevedores in several ports demanding labour regulation and negotiated redundancy terms, the ITF has said it will ask unions internationally to support its affiliates in Chile if ongoing negotiations fail.
The international union body, which represents 400,000 port workers worldwide, criticised the Chilean government for failing to resolve a dispute which is reckoned to have cost USD 500 million so far.
“This is not a new problem. We have been working on this issue since our Chilean unions, COMACH and CONGMAR, brought the matter to us in the autumn last year. We wrote several times to the Chilean government drawing attention to the possibility of conflict and calling for negotiations, but the response was pitiful” said ITF dockers’ section secretary Kees Marges.
“The ITF will now warn its affiliates to prepare for action against ships loaded in Chile arriving in their ports particularly carrying fruit and copper” Marges stated.
“Contrary to press reports, the unions, COMACH and CONGMAR, are not opposing privatisation per se, but are asking for the regulation of port employment and for fair financial settlements for workers who lose their jobs due to restructuring” he added.
The ITF said it regretted financial losses sustained due to the fact that the Easter dispute coincided with the fruit export season and expressed hope that negotiations opened on 5 April in Santiago would be taken seriously by the government so that further losses could be avoided.
According to reports from Valparaiso, the ITF’s Chilean co-ordinator, Miguel Oses, was arrested and some workers were injured during the demonstrations in the port area over Easter. “Chile’s main ports continue to be militarised and provocative actions are being taken against workers coming to their workplaces” said ITF regional secretary Mauricio Sant’Anna, from Rio yesterday.
For further information please contact Kees Marges or Sarah Finke/ITF press office on +44 (0) 171 4032733 or +44 (0) 171 9409258
