Port Workers in Argentine Grain Hub End Strike

Port workers in part of the Argentine grains hub of Rosario lifted a work stoppage on Friday, only a day after they went on strike over demands for higher year-end bonuses, a union official said.

 

The strike briefly halted activity at the ports of Timbues, San Martin and San Lorenzo, all part of the Rosario shipping complex along the Parana River.

 

"We just signed a deal with the export companies, which has allowed us to end the work stoppage," Edgardo Quiroga, spokesman for the CGT labor organization told Reuters.

 

Argentina is the world's No. 3 soybean exporter and top supplier of soymeal livestock feed. It is also a major producer of wheat, shipped mostly to neighboring Brazil, and corn.

 

Labor relations are touchy in Argentina, where pay increases lag the country's soaring inflation rate, which some private economists estimate is around 40 percent, far higher than official estimates.