The union conflict in Conaprole continues to climb and this time led to the loss of sales of 1.5 million liters of long-life milk, as well as the payment of fines for non-compliance in exports with China and other countries, as confirmed yesterday at a press conference by the president, Gabriel Fernandez Secco.
In dialogue with the press, the president of the dairy cooperative described the conflict with the Association of Workers and Employees of Conaprole (AOEC) as “really whimsical and unnecessary”, and to illustrate it, he ruled that the company lost 1.5 million liters of long-life milk.
The union conflict began after Conaprole invested in the Villa Rodríguez plant and incorporated new packaging machines, with the capacity to 15,000 liters per hour of long life milk. This led to The company will propose a rescheduling of shifts and the forms of work, something that the union opposed, as they considered that the changes were made without prior negotiation.
“The only thing that this incorporation of technology does is put us on an equal footing with the most efficient (companies) in the world, generate labor and possibilities of giving the consumer a friendlier container and the world a modern container,” explained Secco.
“Conaprole’s idea is for this machine to work at our Villa Rodríguez plant with the work pattern recommended by the machine manufacturer. It is a Swedish team, which has a standard of around 22 people in two and a half shifts, and hopefully it will be able to work three shifts to be able to put more of this product in the world”, added the president.
In addition to this, the president assured that the dairy farms had to throw away between 4,000 and 5,000 liters of milk. “Today we have 5,500,000 liters in stock and we can industrialize 4,500,000. If this continues, there will come a time (in) when the silos will not reach, and that will imply that the dairy farms begin to spill milk”, remarked Secco.
Exports in danger
The possible effects on exports It is the measure that surely worries Conaprole, the company in charge of placing Uruguayan dairy products abroad. Above all, because the moment of this sector in international trade is good.
In this sense, Dairy industry exports grew by 17% so far in 2023with whole milk powder and cheeses driving the improvement with increases of 31% and 24% in April, respectively, according to the latest report from the National Milk Institute (Inale).
In terms of income, this meant 52.3 million dollars for whole powdered milk shipments during the past month —a cumulative 195.4 million dollars in the year—; and $9.2 million for cheese exports in April —a cumulative $41.6 million.
These are the specific figures that would be at stake if AOEC decides to implement measures that directly affect the company’s dairy exports.
Source: Ambito
