Asoex has called for urgent intervention from the Chilean government to bring to an end a strike by customs workers that has brought the country’s fruit exports to a standstill. Now in its eighth day, the stoppage is estimated by Asoex to have cost fruit exporters US$16m.
The strike was called by the National Association of Chilean Customs Workers (ANFACH) in a dispute over pay and working conditions. The union is calling for an additional 800 staff to deal with what they say has become an unmanageable workload. On Wednesday, the union announced that the walkout would continue indefinitely after rejecting a government proposal to employ an extra 250 people.
Asoex president Ronald Bown urged the government and customs officials “to seek solutions to the conflict urgently in order to avoid further damage to fruit exports”.
“While we accept the need for workers to adopt certain actions in order to bring attention to their cause, this cannot be permitted to be at the expense of other sectors such as the fruit export industry,” Bown said. “These conflicts not only disrupt exports, they threaten our reputation as a reliable and trustworthy supplier.”
Exports of citrus, apples table grapes, avocados and pears have all been affected as fruit builds up at ports and airports and the situation was becoming “critical”, Bown said.
According to Asoex, as of last Friday 500 trucks were having problems accessing the port of Valparaíso, most of these carrying perishable cargo. In addition, some 1,700 containers at the port’s TPS terminal were awaiting release and three ships were waiting to dock at the port.
No comments yet