Argentine grain workers strike, exports unaffected

Union leader says strike will not affect grain exports

Argentine grain workers began a two-day strike on Monday to demand better work and pay conditions but a union leader said the strike would not affect grain shipments for now.

"Grain ports will not be affected, if the strike doesn't extend for too long," Pablo Palacio, the union secretary, told Reuters. "Two days will not affect ports because they have enough stocks and since they knew about the strike they must have prepared for it."

Members of the URGARA union, which represents workers that check the quality of grains before they are loaded onto ships, downed tools at plants nationwide after failing to reach an agreement with exporters.

The union is hoping to meet with company officials to resume negotiations this week, Palacio said.

URGARA says large grain exporters have profited from a recent boom in grains prices as well as improved weather conditions after a drought hit output during the past two seasons, and workers should be paid more.

Argentina is among the world's top suppliers of soybeans, wheat and corn.

Grain workers threatened to strike and block port shipments in June, but called the plans off to resume talks with exporters.

In May, URGARA union members halted operations at a grains plant in the port of Ramallo, near the agricultural port city of Rosario, where almost 80 percent of the South American country's grains and oilseeds exports are loaded.

They briefly blocked the entrance to a plant near the grains port of Bahia Blanca, in southern Buenos Aires province, and protested outside a nearby factory owned by Bunge.

Strikes and labor disputes have surged in Argentina this year, mainly due to high inflation, which is fueling pay demands from unions ranging from truck drivers to public school teachers.

Source: Reuters