Aluar strike comes to an end – Argentina
Friday, June 15, 2007
Employees of Argentine aluminum producer Aluar (Buenos Aires: ALUA) affiliated with national metalworkers union UOM have ended the strike underway at the Puerto Madryn plant in Chubut province since June 8.
«At a massive group assembly, employees voted to go back to work as of 5:00am Friday,» Mariana Rivarola, external relations assistant at the plant, told BNamericas.
Employees have accepted an appeal to reconcile made by the government days ago, which they had previously rejected, she said.
Now the parties will begin a series of meetings to negotiate the 45% salary adjustment employees are requesting.
During the conflict, the company had said that nearly 100 employees had been fired, mainly for non-compliance with essential duties established in a previous agreement, such as keeping guards on site to protect equipment at the plant during a strike.
However, the company reversed the dismissals when employees agreed to reconcile, Rivarola said, adding that «now, while they are negotiating, everyone is working because they are starting from scratch.»
Regarding possible production losses at Aluar as a result of the weeklong stoppage, Rivarola said that if there were effects, they have not yet been quantified.
Aluar is controlled by the Madanez Quintanilla family and will soon put the first stage of a nearly US$800mn expansion project into action.
The project is designed to boost Aluar’s production capacity from 280,000t/y to 400,000t/y and looks at incorporating 144 electrolytic cells.
Harvey Beltrán
Business News Americas
http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?idioma=I§or=8¬icia=396394