MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fisheries strike caused six-figure losses for Chubut

The salary conflict that has paralysed a large sector of the fisheries industry for 37 days in the Province of Chubut resulted in the loss of at least EUR 5.4 million, according to Mario Ordiales, the president of the Argentine-Patagonian Chamber of Fisheries Industries

Ordiales, who is also the president of the fishing company, Harengus SA, estimates that the total figure could be even higher from the "loss of markets and sanctions for non-compliance with consignments that had already been arranged and paid by foreign clients," he said in a statement quoted by the Spanish daily La Voz de Galicia.

The fisheries conflict had begun last 13 April and it was solved 20 May, when both confronting parties accepted an agreement similar to the one signed a few days before by companies in Comodoro Rivadavia.

Although the agreement reached by the leaders with CAPIP and the Food Industry Workers' Union (STIA) allowed for unlocking the conflict last week, Ordiales estimates that the normalisation of the industry's activities will take more than two weeks.

Meanwhile, sources quoted by La Voz de Galicia, indicated that the merchandise that companies were not yet able to discard continue to accumulate in Chubut ports. And they speak of more than 350 containers with processed products and thousands of tonnes of decomposed fish in the vessels holds.

Moreover, several stakeholders expressed that the new scenario forces them to redefine their production strategy and process a larger amount of value added products so that business may continue to be profitable and so as to be able to respect the agreement with the STIA.

And although they made no public statements, representatives from some Spanish companies based in Argentina said they had an "awful time" during the strike. Specifically, they mentioned having been held hostage -together with other stakeholders- by a group of demonstrators when they were attending a meeting to hold conversations with union leaders.(FIS)