The Minas plant will reopen next month, with 60% of its effective workforce gradually returning to their jobs.
Workers at the plant Mines of the National Beer Factory (FNC) They will gradually return to their jobs and tasks starting August 1, after the company announced its closure and reached an agreement with the government and the union to keep the facilities running.
After several twists and turns in a critical situation that put dozens of jobs at risk when FNC announced the closure of the Minas plant due to competitiveness problems, the Minister of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), Mario Arizticonfirmed that on August 1st, workers on unemployment insurance will resume their work.
Confirmation is given after the Federation of Beverage Workers and Employees (FOEB) and the company signed, within the framework of the Salary Tipsthe agreement that establishes the conditions under which said reopening will take place: with 60% of the effective workforce returning to work at the plant.
“This week we will reflect in the agreement what was endorsed by the assembly to make it collective agreement”, The official explained that the workers will be reintegrated “gradually” starting in August, and that the plant was put into production conditions during July. Full production, meanwhile, will begin in September.
It is worth remembering that the decision to close the Minas plant was communicated by FNC at the beginning of May due to “competitiveness problems”, referring to “the high production costs of Uruguay compared to other countries in the region.”
In this regard, the company mentioned “the growing Importation of cans low cost products that reach values that are impossible to match with the current conditions for the national industry,” together with “the smaller scale of local production and low productivity”, as well as “the tax pressure especially distorting in returnable beers.”
The MIEM’s questions
The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), Elisa Facio, questioned the situation FNC due to the large Profits which he obtained in 2023 and the fact that they had not alerted the government before deciding to permanently close the Minas plant and leave workers without their jobs.
The leader spoke about the issue in the House of Representatives Labor Legislation Committee and stressed that helping a multinational is not a job that the government “loves to do.” Facio referred to the repeated meetings they had with the company and with various ministries in order to solve the problem.
“What I think is that, in some way, the company used the government as a consultant,” Facio said, referring to the fact that FNC had four ministries at its disposal behind its numbers trying to solve its financial problems so that its employees could keep their jobs.
Source: Ambito
