The tire union had to lift the blocks due to lack of internal consensus

The two-day strike announced by the Tire Union (SUTNA) was in the middle for the vacation decreed by the government after the attack on vice president Cristina Kirchner.

But also on Thursday, the first of the two strike days announced in the factories Pirelli, Bridgestone and destinyhave been noted non-adherence which revealed the to wear between the union and some of the workers, after 120 days of conflict with no solution in sight.

A convincing indication was the decision of the union he leads Alexander Curly was that they should lift the locks with which they had decided to accompany the protest.

Although throughout Thursday there was a strike in the three factories that produce tires in the country, all located in Greater Buenos Aires, SUTNA had decided prevent the entry and exit of people during the whole shift that the protest should last.

Which in the end did not materialize: the guild the block was removed first at the Fate plant in San Fernando and then at the Pirelli plant in Merlo and at Bridgestone in Llavallol. In the latter plant, according to industry sources, there would be accidents between workers and union delegates.

“Actually the locks they are just cluesCrespo said to justify his revocation, in statements to the TN channel. “The reality is that for a few hours there were blocks and for many weeks there were no. But the workers are 5,500 e This protest is carried out by them, not by the union“, He added.

The truth is that the SUTNA strength measurement, which began at the end of May, has been going on for 120 days and wear is felt. especially on paychecks: after having refused on that occasion a proposed 65% salary increase On the part of the companies, at the moment the workers of the tire factories are receiving the same salary as in April, without improvements. To this, add salary deduction that factories are applying the days not worked.

On the union side, they are asking for a salary increase which exceeds annual inflation by 5% planned for this year. But the point where there is no greater intransigence on either side is the further demand for a 200% increase in hours worked over the weekend.

For companies, this statement is equivalent to modify the terms of the collective labor agreement and would represent the hiring of more staff. “It is one of the least productive unions in the sector, with an index of absenteeism between 13% and 15%when in any other activity an absenteeism of more than 5% would already be alarming ”, they represented in one of the companies.

Nor was there any resolution on the conflict by the Ministry of Labor of the Nationwhose Secretary of Labor has been holding conciliatory meetings for four months now, without results.

The three tire factories ship around 500,000 tires a month, but since the trade union conflict started production of between 1.3 and 1.4 million tires would have stoppedas estimated last week by the owner of Fate, Javier Madanes Quintanilla.

In June, the three companies had offered a 65% wage increase from July 1 and an improvement in hours worked over the weekend. Proposal rejected by the union.

In the car terminals they follow the evolution of this conflict with obvious concern. In many of the terminals they have the theme of tires as the main input at risk of scarcity and are resorting to various alternatives to obtain supplies: from purchases from Brazil (approved by both the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank to release the necessary dollars) as purchases on the replacement market.

Some terminals have already ordered covers from suppliers in Europe and Asia, but these are shipments that will take no less than two months to reach the port. “The question it can get more complicated long before those ships arrive “they told Clarin.