Several dockworkers boarded Hong Kong-flagged Ocean Blue on September 22, 2016, sparking a mass walkout of all others dockworkers at South America’s largest port, reported JOC.
Seven OGMO longshoremen boarded the 2,824-capacity container vessel berthed at Grupo Libra’s T-35 facility at 8am local time, in protest of ‘foreigners’ performing cargo operations aboard the ship, presumably its crew, according to the longshoremen’s union Sindestiva.
After their prompt arrest, dockworkers throughout the rest of the facility stopped working, bringing the port’s operations to a stop for two hours from 1.30 to 3.30pm that afternoon.
This latest twists comes after several other delays at the port this summer, including regular protests by dockworkers over pay and conditions and extensive flooding in August, 2016.
A spokesperson for the Santos Port Operators Association denied reports of foreign workers at the port, saying: “Sindestiva seems to continually make this accusation without foundation in fact,
“We have to repeat again: there are no foreign workers handling the cargo in the port of Santos.”
This latest statement has done little to quell workers fears, who have been protesting throughout the summer for a back-dated 10 percent pay-rise, an increase in meal allowances and a guarantee of work quotas.
