Given the imminent bankruptcy of the Rondatel and Lorsinal plants, the complex present of an important sector of the Uruguayan economy was once again put on the table.
The refrigeration industry of Uruguay is going through a complex moment due to the fall of the chinese demand and the low volume of work that companies have. Plants mostly intersperse periods of activity with moments of decline in production, so they must resort to unemployment insurance.
The presentation of the refrigerators to bankruptcy proceedings Rondatel, in Rosary beads, and Lorsinal, in Montevideo, both belonging to the Chinese group Sundiro Holding, It is imminent. The debt they maintain is not easy to pay, but the decision will imply that both plants abandon the possibility of resuming their activities, something that will affect 700 workers, in addition to the livestock shipper and other suppliers.
As explained to Radio Carve by the president of the Meat and Related Industry Workers Federation (FOICA), Martín CardozoIn April, a representative of the Chinese multinational was installed to negotiate the payment plan with creditors. However, this did not materialize so the creditors resorted to filing a lawsuit.
If there is no concrete resolution by December, when unemployment insurance ends, workers will join the creditors’ demand.
An industry in a complex moment
Cardozo explained that the refrigeration industry is going through a very delicate situation, because there are too many companies for the low volume of work it has Uruguay at the moment.
In that sense, he pointed out that there are currently “three or four meat processing plants” that work uniformly throughout the year, while the rest have periods of little activity, in which they have to resort to unemployment insurance.
As an example, he pointed out the situation of the Salteño refrigerator Daymán Meat, of Brazilian capital, which decided in May to interrupt its activity “for an indefinite period”, due to the difficulty in obtaining animals for slaughter. Consequently, he sent the workers to unemployment insurance for four months, with the intention of resuming activity when “the harvest improves.”
However, Cardozo pointed out that it is a very complex situation because the company has debts with workers, for 2023 licenses, bonuses and days worked. In addition, they do not give signals, they do not attend to the workers’ representatives and they say that they do not have funds to reactivate the plant.
For this reason, next week the business chambers will be called to a tripartite meeting in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTTS).
Source: Ambito
