The leadership of the Montecon union, the company that operates with containers in the public docks of the port of Montevideo, will meet on Wednesday to convene a workers’ assembly, a body in which it will be defined what measures to take before the announcement of the company of the sending 30 workers to unemployment insurance in December, the reduction of the insured wages and the restructuring of rest days. As he told the daily the president of the union, Martín García, it is possible that a work stoppage will be resolved.
The business measures were announced to the workers on Tuesday, November 16 and will be taken as of December 1. Until now, García explained, some workers have 21 insured wages, others 23 and another 25, so the reduction measure will significantly impact the income of employees, who will lose between six and ten insured wages, since in the first instance It was said that 13 would be set, although this Monday the company announced that there would be 15.
“There was a request from the union that we are trying to attend to,” he told the daily Montecon’s general manager, Juan Olascoaga, referring to the change from 13 to 15 insured wages as of December 1. He also informed that the shipments to the unemployment insurance will not be the first day of the month, but that it will take approximately two more weeks to analyze the issue, but that they will surely be confirmed.
“We are postponing the decision to send people to unemployment insurance to act on insurance,” he said. Currently the company has 400 people on the payroll.
Olascoaga stated that the three measures were taken due to “the loss of service” that Montecon usually had and that it was referred by the National Port Administration (ANP) to the specialized terminal, in charge of Katoen Natie. This is the GS1 service, which connects with the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the United States, which represented 20% of the operations of the company that operates in public docks and which was forced to dock at the specialized terminal since November within the framework of the new berthing regulations.
“Already in November there is a substantial volume of 5,000 fewer container movements in the month, which is 20% of the activity,” said Olascoaga.
García, meanwhile, pointed out that in the dialogue table that was formed between the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the ANP, the Navigation Center and the Single Port Union and Related Branches to evaluate palliative measures for those who lost their job source in Montecon, due to the new berthing regulations, practically no progress was made “at all”. “There is progress in some points, but it is very far from what is sought,” said the unionist.
Among other measures requested by workers in this area is that the State guarantees that, while unemployment insurance lasts, 100% of wages are paid. Current regulations establish a payment for those who enter the unemployment benefit that decreases from 66% the first month to 40% the sixth, when it ends.
Deadline is over
On the other hand, Olascoaga said that on Friday the deadline to present before the Administrative Litigation Tribunal the nullity action of the decrees that determine the priority of docking in the specialized terminal and that arise from the agreement reached between the government and Katoen Natie expires. . In this sense, he confirmed that the company will present its claim before that date. Montecon’s claim is that the judicial body annul what the company interprets as a monopoly in favor of its competitor, since it understands that the provisions are in violation of the Constitution and current legislation.
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