The MTSS will seek a solution regarding the 150 workers at the Minas plant, while the MIEM will aim to reduce production costs.
He Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) resolved the installation of two negotiation tables regarding the conflict over the closure of the industrial plant of Mines of National Beer Factories (FNC)with the aim of reversing the company’s decision and thus deactivating the indefinite strike announced by the union.
A bipartite meeting was held on Monday afternoon at the offices of the MTSS, in which the holder of the portfolio participated Mario Arizti, the interim minister of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) Walter Verriand representatives of FNC to look for alternatives that address the situation of 150 workers who are left unemployed due to the closure of the Minas plant.
The objective, furthermore, was to find minimally beginning solutions to avoid the closure of the factory and, thus, deactivate the unemployment for an indefinite period that the FNC union announced in case of not receiving a positive response to the claim by Friday.
“We had a general assembly in April where we defined that it is essential for us that both plants remain operational, so we are mandated to take all types of measures that may even reach the general strike of our factory,” said the union leader Fernando Ferreira, about it, to Channel 10.
What did the government resolve?
Faced with this situation, the government intervened through the bipartite meeting with the company and decided to establish two negotiating tables: one at the level of MTSS and the other, in the MIEM. The first will work on the specific situation of the workers and the maintenance of jobs, while the second will be focused on the reduction of production costs of the plant that, according to the official FNC statement, would close its doors due to “competitiveness problems.”
“We have a month and 15 days to try to move forward and if we move forward, we reach agreements, the closure does not happen,” Arizti told Subrayado after the meeting with representatives of the company and the dialogue with the union in which, according to the minister, the predisposition of all parties to dialogue was observed. The authorities hope to make progress before Friday, the date on which workers announced the start of a strike.
Regarding labor, Arizti listed measures such as unemployment insurance, a job retraining program and flexibility in collective agreements. Meanwhile, Verri reiterated the commitment to look for alternatives. Although he assured that aspects such as the importation of cheaper beer cannot be influenced, he pointed out that there are some extra costs that can be attacked for the loss of competitivenesssuch as those in relation to returnable packaging.
Source: Ambito
