Uruguay
The Uruguayan government defended the imposition of minimum services at Terminal Cuenca del Plata
Jorge Pozzi said the measure adopted amid the union conflict at TCP seeks to sustain operations without resorting to essentiality. According to him, it aims to ease tensions and keep negotiations open.
Amid the conflict between workers at Terminal Cuenca del Plata (TCP) and the company Katoen Natie, the government decided to require minimum services at the container terminal instead of declaring it an essential service.
According to la diaria, Jorge Pozzi, director of the National Ports Administration (ANP) at TCP, defended that decision and described it as a “balanced, well-balanced and legally sound” solution. In statements to Panorama informativo on la diaria Radio, he also said the measure could help get the discussion back on track.
Pozzi rejected the idea that this amounts to a “watered-down essentiality,” a characterization that, according to la diaria, had been raised by Fernando Correa, institutional relations manager at Katoen Natie, in an interview with El País. The ANP director said the interruptions in operations were creating problems for different actors linked to the port.
According to his remarks, those stoppages affected exporters, importers and transport operators. As an example, he said some truck drivers would arrive and find activity halted, and could be stranded for 16 or 18 hours. In that context, he said the goal is to continue the discussion without the pressure of having the entire terminal shut down.
He also addressed PIT-CNT criticism of the government decision. According to la diaria, Pozzi considered it natural that the trade union center would not agree with the decision and stressed that this is the role it is meant to play. At the same time, he said he does not understand how the measure would amount to violating workers’ rights.
Finally, he insisted that the intention is to keep negotiations moving forward. Along those lines, he said the option chosen by the Executive Branch avoided a more complex scenario, since a declaration of essentiality at the port, he argued, could have triggered a solidarity response from other port workers and a broader halt in activity.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
