Today union port workers began a legal strike in San Antonio blocking the port entrances and causing operations to cease. The workers are asking for salary raises. At the moment, the workers are temporarily suspended; however, it is undetermined whether or not this strike has indefinite character.
The mountain pass connecting Argentina and Chile was re-opened today and will remain open throughout the course of the day. At this point, approximately 2,000 trucks are waiting to cross through the pass. Thankfully, starting this week and running through next spring and summer, the tunnel will remain open 24 hours a day. However, the weather forecast in the region is predicting more snowfall for tonight, which may result in yet another temporary closure to the pass.
The mountain pass connecting Chile to Argentina has been closed due to bad weather conditions in the Andes Mountains. Consequently, transportation through the pass is inhibited for the time being. The bad weather is predicted to continue until next Tuesday.
Many of the public entities in Argentina are not operating today, August 28, 2014, due to the Argentinian labor unions’ second national strike in less than five months. Truckers, train conductors, port employees, and waiters walked off their jobs today in a 24-hour strike to protest and demand higher wages. Specifically, the unions are protesting about the high unemployment, increased taxation applied by the government, and the unsafe economic situation that plagues the country. Many roads are blocked, which has put a hold on trucking transportation, and Customs is also not operating.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said Tuesday that they have reached a tentative agreement on terms for health benefits. This agreement is subject to other issues as negotiations continue on a new labor contract.
Both the ILWU and PMA said they agree not to discuss the terms of this tentative agreement while contract talks continue to take place.
The negotiated contract encompasses nearly 20,000 longshore workers at 29 ports along the West Coast.
