He Uruguayan dairy sector is going through delicate situations, among them, the exchange delay that undermines profitability, the closure of a plant in the Gloria Group and a possible 24-year national strike by unions due to complaints of “employer abuses” of workers.
This Monday the Table of the Federation of Dairy Industry Workers (FITIL) will meet to analyze the union situation in the country’s dairy sector. This occurs after the dismissal of a worker in the company Hubert who decided to join the union, an attitude that the union describes as an “employer attack of repression of the free union organization of workers.”
This situation has been escalating since the beginning of May, when the worker was fired, and for which negotiations have not yet been reached, which motivated the sector to hold a two-hour strike last Friday in solidarity with colleagues. of the Milk Transport Workers Union.
In this sense, the secretary general of the Association of Workers and Employees of Conaprole and leader of the FTIL, Luis Goichea, He assured Radio Carve that, if the 24-hour strike is carried out, it will not be the definitive solution to the problems facing the sector.
“Here it is demonstrated that workers who organize freely to join a union are immediately fired by the company,” the secretary further denounced.
Closing of the Grupo Gloria plant
This week the discontent of the main dairy unions in Uruguay who expressed their firm rejection of the decision of the Gloria Group to leave its operations in the country and close its cheese manufacturing plant in New Helvecia, where about 50 people work and milk from 40 local dairy farmers was industrialized.
On May 4, the Peruvian Gloria Group announced its withdrawal from the Uruguayan dairy business and, with it, the paralysis of its manufacturing plant cheese production in Nueva Helvecia. Through WhatsApp, The group announced the dismissal of 43 of its employees – who are currently on unemployment insurance until the closure becomes effective – and the suspension of milk collection from local producers, who together sent around 60,000 liters per day.
Given this situation, the main dairy unions of the country expressed their rejection of the decision taken “from one day to the next.” “We consider that the actions of this company cannot be justified by alleging economic reasons, since, if that were the case, it should have been announced with minimum advance notice so that both producers and officials could take the necessary precautions,” they questioned in a statement, according to Blasina y Asociados.
Therefore, they expressed “absolute rejection of the way the Gloria company acts, which does not match the respect with which our country received it and we call on our leaders to analyze measures to prevent actions of this type from being repeated.” .
Among the inconveniences pointed out by the dairy unions, and “beyond strictly complying with the payment of debts“as a requirement, they pointed out that “the senders had to find a destination for their production from one day to the next because, as is known, milk cannot be thrown away due to the environmental impact that this entails.”
To all this, exchange delay
Not only is the sector dealing with union problems and layoffs, but it also does not escape the reality that compromises the entire agricultural sector: the backwardness of the dollar. As confirmed by Conaprole, the exchange delay affects the price of milk to the producer in Uruguay, despite the rise in values in the international market.
Dairy products rose for the fourth consecutive time at the end of the trading platform. Fonterra and the vice president of Conaprole, Alejandro Pérez, admitted to Radio Carve that “the producers ask about the price of milk, but it is difficult to modify because it hits us against the exchange rate, which is ironed and lower than last year”.
Pérez analyzed that “there is not much offer and the market is showing eagerness”, something that “can be seen” in the dairy company’s sales, but he acknowledged that “the producer’s situation is complicated, beyond the good price of milk and the favorable relationship of the value of the grain to feed the livestock.”
Regarding future values, the vice president of Conaprole considered that “it is difficult to venture 30/60 days ahead” and, although he spoke of an improvement in the last two months, he warned: “It is very difficult for the price to change of milk to the producer until the end of the year”.
Source: Ambito
