About 8,000 salmon industry workers may be laid off this year as result of the crisis. (Photo: Contrasal/Olach)

Salmon firm sacks over 100 workers

CHILE
Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 01:30 (GMT + 9)

Layoffs involving salmon industry workers have begun to filter down into the region of Chiloe, as anticipated by the Salmon Industry Association of Chile AG (SalmonChile).

The executives grouped in SalmonChile plan some 8,000 dismissals this year as a result of the sector crisis brought on by outbreaks of the infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) virus, which has spread among domestic salmon farming centres since 2007.

One of the sector companies, Invertec Seafood SA, located in the municipality of Castro, already announced the layoff of more than 100 employees.

According to Claudia Gomez, president of the union Unity and Strength of the salmon firm, 175 workers have been dismissed so far, and another 250 employees are expected to follow at the end of this month.

"Thirty-five workers under indefinite contracts were dismissed 30 March, 28 of which were unionised. Some 130 seasonal workers were fired 1 April and they will dismiss 250 more seasonal workers by the end of April, leaving only 50 workers in the plant,” Gomez indicated.

The layoffs occur after the companies have finalised their season harvests and as the period of farming begins, for which they no longer have salmons to process, El Repuertero reports.

Invertec Seafood SA, in particular, will suspend its activities in its processing plants for two months.

"We know that there will be no fish for two months, June and July, and the people who are working in that time would do so for the maintenance of the company and training; that is what they have said so far,” Gomez added.

The union is preparing a new process of collective negotiation with the company, she also said. “We no longer know what the final outcome of our negotiation will be, as we have been left with very few members, because the great majority were seasonal workers,” she observed.

At present, the union has 67 members, against the 300 they had before the sacks.

"Without a doubt, with this we lost strength, but we will negotiate in any case with that number of members," Gomez asserted.

Meanwhile, the union is drafting a list of demands to present to the company between 14 and 16 April, to then await the legal term of five working days during which Invertec must respond to begin with the negotiation.

"Our forte will be what the base pay and bonuses will be, because that is something that one receives every month,” she indicated.

According to data furnished by the National Confederation of Salmon Workers (CONTRASAL), an increase in layoffs is anticipatedin the next months.

The projection increases the number of workers laid off from the industry in salmon farming regions to about 26,000 workers.

Last February, the results of The sectors of fishing, agriculture and hunting registered a significant annual decline in the number of active workers, according to the findings of the National Employment Survey presented by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The report reveals that the region of Los Lagos is the one that displays the greatest increase in the unemployment rate at the national level. This situation is directly related to the crisis that has affected the salmon farming industry for several years, mainly due to outbreaks of the ISA virus in various domestic farming centres.

Although the national average this past year was 8.6 per cent (it reached 7.5 per cent in 2008); in Los Lagos it went from 3.1 per cent in 2008 to 7.8 per cent in 2009. That variation was one of widest registered in the country.

Related article:

- Salmon crisis elevates unemployment in Los Lagos

By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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