Salmon staff strike as Chile rages against inequality
Workers at Chilean salmon producers Yadran and Salmones Austral were today staging a 24-hour strike as part of widespread social unrest in the country, reports Fish Farming Expert’s Chilean sister site, Salmon Expert.
Marta Oyarzo, president of the Yadran Union No.2 and spokeswoman for the National Coordinator of the Salmon Industry and related branches, told Salmon Expert: “We decided to support the mobilisations as a gesture of commitment to our people, who work every day with and are part of the community of Chiloé.”
Yadran’s No.1, No.3 and No.4 unions, along with Union No.1 of Salmones Austral, have also joined in the strike.
Better living conditions
“Social inequality has been increasing for years and nobody was able to see that there was a pain in the country. We want the salmon industry to listen and get closer to the workers, giving them better living conditions. Contracts and legal regulations are fulfilled, but we feel distressed by this situation that we are often seen as one more number,” said Oyarzo.
In the wake of the unrest, Chilean president Sebastián Piñera has announced measures such as the creation of a minimum guaranteed income of 350,000 pesos (£376) per month for all full-time workers, a new tax on incomes over 8m pesos (£8,592) per month, better pensions, stabilised power bills, affordable health insurance, reduced-price medicines, the reduction of high salaries of public officials and a decrease in the number of Congressmen and limitation of re-elections.
Oyarzo said that rather than qualify if the measures are good or bad, the important thing is to emphasise that “it is a gesture of the Government to begin to make deeper changes which are necessary in the face of the deep inequality that exists in Chile”.
18 dead
The union boss said the stoppage at Yadran and Salmones Austral will last 24 hours and won’t be extended. On the other hand, Customs workers also joined the national strike, in support of citizen demands.
The unrest started last week over a now-suspended price hike for subway tickets in the capital, Santiago, but have since expanded, revealing deep-seated anger among ordinary Chileans who feel they have been excluded from the nation’s economic rise.
According to news outlet CNN, escalating levels of violence on the streets have so far led to at least 18 deaths.
