Argentine Mariners Strike to Protest Law That Cuts Pay, Benefits and Rights
Argentina's maritime labor unions are going on strike to protest a proposed labor law that could eliminate overtime pay, reduce the right to strike, and restrict unions' ability to organize. The law would also remove all seafarers from Argentina's Employment Contract Act and reclassify their work under commercial law, the unions warned.
"The merchant marine cannot be excluded from the legal framework that protects Argentine workers," said the Maritime and River Trade Union Federation in a statement. "This strike is not against the country or against production. It's in defense of national work, our working conditions and navigation safety."
The new law is a centerpiece of right-wing Prime Minister Javier Milei's initiative to remake the Argentine economy in a libertarian mold. It has been approved by the nation's senate, and if finalized by the general assembly, it would shift labor relations in favor of employers.
Among hundreds of other provisions, the labor law would allow work schedules of up to 12 hours per day with no overtime pay. Instead, affected workers would receive straight-time pay, and then would get "banked" time off to keep their total working hours the same for the period. Employers' total mandatory contributions to social security, health care and severance pay would also be reduced, along with mandatory sick pay.
Organizing rights would also be significantly curtailed. Unions in "critical services" - including all maritime and longshore unions - would no longer be able to go on full strikes. They would be required to maintain 50 percent capacity for operations to continue, in effect limiting them to a half-walkout. After a contract expiration date, any contract elements about work rules or union rights would automatically expire, weakening the union during negotiations. Countrywide labor agreements would also be overridden by local bargaining, freeing each company from the terms of industry-wide deals.
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Seafarers would have an additional rights reduction, as they would no longer have the labor protections that shoreside workers enjoy. "They intend to exclude us even from the scope of labor justice, placing us under the Commercial Code as if we were not workers, including us in other regimes, like those deprived of their freedom," marine engineers' union secretary Mariano Vilar told outlet Página/12.
In addition to the widespread street protests in Buenos Aires, Argentina's maritime union confederation is launching a shutdown of port operations. Pilot launches, most tugs, and many OSVs ceased operating at 0001 hours on Wednesday, and they will not resume work until midnight Thursday, the union said. Emergency-response capacity in each port - and vessels on safety-critical duty - are not affected.
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