Uruguay dockworkers accept agreement and conflict ends

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Single Port Union and Related Branches (SUPRA) spokesman Álvaro Reinaldo made the announcement, detailing that on Sunday TCP – 80% of which belongs to Belgian company Katoen Natie and 20% to the Uruguayan State – resubmitted the October 12 pre-agreement for consideration, which was approved by the workers’ assembly on Tuesday.

“There was only one point in which there was an interpretation discrepancy and this was the way the company wanted it to be, so there were no major changes between one and the other,” Reinaldo emphasized.

The workers’ representative added that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has been notified that the pre-agreement has been accepted, which means that TCP must now do the same in order to sign it.

Although he pointed out that in any negotiation “there are things that sometimes have to be left aside,” he considered that the end result is “a good collective bargaining agreement.”

Negotiations between the two parties have been ongoing since April, and these were complicated in early October when the conflict resulted in a 72-hour strike that halted port activity and impacted the country’s economy.

An agreement seemed to have been reached on October 12, as announced by both parties on social networks and in newspapers, but at the time of signing it, negotiations failed due to the discrepancy point.

After that mishap, talks stalled until a few days ago, when the already approved proposal was presented again.

Although the wage agreement between the dockworkers and TCP has been solved and the Port of Montevideo will operate as usual, there are still discussions about the situation of Katoen Natie.

The Belgian company secured a concession extension -initiated in 2001 and valid for 30 years- until 2081 in an operation announced last March for US$455 million to expand the Specialized Container Terminal.

Katoen Natie thus ended the dispute it had with the Uruguayan State “for violations” of the Treaty for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Belgium-Luxembourg and Uruguay.

However, dockworkers argue that this expansion will affect Montecon – a competitor company operating in the port – and will lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs and are therefore in negotiations with the company to secure a guarantee that will prevent workers from being laid off.