[PEN-L:9469] Santos unions' press release (fwd)

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

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>From owner-labor-l@xxxxxxxx Fri Apr 11 16:58 PDT 1997
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From: LabourNet <chrisbailey@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:      Santos unions' press release
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Santos Unions' Press Release 8 April, 15:00 hours

1 - The workers on board the vessels "Marcos Dias" and "Vancouver" are =

at their posts of work, defending them and demanding work. If force is =

used, whether by the Military Police or the Army, it would be the
first time that armed force was employed in order to take workers from =

their posts, in a perverse and ironic inversion of what always occurs
in strikes.

2 - The workers are not against modernisation. To believe in that is
unfair or disinformation. What the workers wish is that such a process =

not be imposed and without negotiation, but with time to take into
account the enormous social liabilities which it would represent. This =

is the same position as that of the World Bank, UNCTAD, CEPAL, and the =

ILO. The workers have sought such a negotiation since 1993 and, had
this been realised, none of the current problems would be present.
Documents in this regard were conveyed, personally, to President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso on 6th April, during the opening of the
Seminary of CEPAL (?).

3 - The workers wish the fulfilment of the Law of the Ports
(8.630/93), of Presidential Decree 1886/96, of ILO Convention 137
(ratified and made law through legislative Decree 29/93, and
Presidential Decree 1.574/95). All these establish that all work
carried out in the ports, be they public, private or terminals, within =

or outside of organised ports, is the exclusive competence of port
workers, regularly registered or listed in the organs for management
of  manpower, where those requiring services must request the
necessary manpower for the task.

4 - COSIPA is currently exempt from 68 normal cost items in the port
of Santos. The only tax which remains is the "Port Utilisation Tax"
which pays for maintaining the navigability of the canal and other
navigation facilities, and, even so, it pays at a rate of R$ 0,45 per
ton, while the companies installed in the organised area of the port
and the users of the public port pay, for the same purpose, R$ 4,11
per ton. In terms of costs COSIPA already operates today in conditions =

more advantageous than the world=92s most efficient maritime terminals.=

In relation to other Brazilian terminals, including those of Santos,
it is a situation of manifest privilege.

5 - The workers=92 movement does not want to "prevent COSIPA from
working with its own people" (as permitted by the Law of the Ports) as =

has been constantly affirmed, but indeed to prevent the excessive
interest of a single company to compromise the credibility of the
transition of Brazilian ports, which would tear up the Law of the
Ports, which tramples on diverse international documents to which the
country is a signatory. The movement is not against the political will =

of the Brazilian government to have more efficient and cheaper ports,
but in its defense. The crisis is unnecessary and undesired by the
workers. It only serves the exclusive interests of COSIPA.

Translation from Portugese by LabourNet
http://www.labournet.org.uk