(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) More than 80 boats are delayed on the Parana River in Argentina, snarling agriculture exports Tuesday as vegetable oil workers strike for higher wages and navigation channels run shallow.
The Federation of Oilseed Workers is demanding 36 percent increases in salaries this year to keep ahead of inflation running at 30 percent annual. They have been on strike since May 4.
The government, however, wants to limit the hikes, warning that increases of more than 25 percent could stir faster inflation, slowing the economy even further.
"The pressure is very heavy for the increase to not surpass 27 percent," Adrian Davalos, secretary general of the union, told Radio 2 in Rosario, a port city on the Parana River.
Inflation has come down from 40 percent in 2014, in part because a contracting economy is cooling consumer demand. But economists say it will probably continue to run at 30 percent for the rest of the year.
The boats unable to load are in ports in Rosario, located up river from Buenos Aires and where much of the country's soybean and products are shipped for export. Argentina is a major exporter of corn, soy and related products like soy oil.
The delayed vessels are due to ship soybean and flour as well as fertilizers, wheat and iron to Algeria, Brazil, China, Vietnam and elsewhere, according to the Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities.
The chamber said 33 boats have been affected by the strike, while another 54 have been detained because of shallow waters in navigation channels on the river that has led to a series of groundings in the past few weeks, it said.
Exporters are losing about $25,000 per boat for every day of delay, according to the chamber.
This is the latest strike to hit Argentina this year, with bankers conducting a two-day strike beginning Tuesday.
On June 9, a faction of the General Labor Confederation, the biggest union umbrella group in the country, will join transport workers in a national strike.
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