Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 06:26:02 +1000
From: sjwright-AT-vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Steve Wright)
Subject: (en) Santos port strike reports (pt)


Subject: (en) Santos port strike reports (pt)
From: Andrew Flood <ANFLOOD-AT-macollamh.ucd.ie>
Reply-To: <a-infos-d-AT-tao.ca>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 12:36:38 +0100 (BST)
Organization: University College Dublin


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[Background: a seris of reports from the Port of Santos,
Brazil which was shut down by a general strike after
police stormed two ships workers were occupying]

-------

Subject: Santos port remains halted
Originator: union-d-AT-wolfnet.com

PORT REMAINS HALTED

Ships waiting to dock

Already a full fifteen ships at the harbour entrance are waiting to dock,
due to the protest strike which has paralysed the Port of Santos since the
morning of 15 April.

A new round of negotiations between the workers and Cosipa is taking place
today, 17 April.  A mass meeting of workers announced approval of the major
part of the proposal presented by the company. They accept discussing the
size of the teams, methods of payment and other items. The only impediment,
according to the leaders, is acceptance that the work on board the ships
could be done by workers not requisitioned via the organ for management of
manual labour. This point was opposed, categorically, by the assembly of
the ranks.

While this is so, the strike continues to totally paralyse the Port of
Santos, ever since it began on 15 April in protest against the invasion by
the Federal Police of the ships "Marcos Dias" and "Vancouver", at the
Cosipa terminal. The workers on board were arrested, interrogated and later
freed. There was no violence. The crisis generated by the invasion,
however, continues to maintain high tension at the Cosipa entrance,
principally due to the presence of elite marksmen of the Military Police,
posted on the roof and on railway wagons, carrying long range automatic
weapons equipped with telescopic sights.

ON THE PRESIDENT'S WEB

Messages from the whole world are falling on the computer of President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, through the international network of support via
the Internet, asking for serious negotiations, a transformation of the
ports without social crisis and by the maintenance of unionised work in the
maritime terminals, in accordance with the Law of the Ports. Tell him,
respectfully, by e-mail pr-AT-planalto.gov.br

Translated by LabourNet
http://www.labournet.org.uk

-------
Originator: union-d-AT-wolfnet.com
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Translated from Portuguese by LabourNet

WORKERS GO BACK TO THE COSIPA BERTH

NATIONAL STRIKE SUSPENDED

APRIL 18, 22,30 PM UPDATE

The workers at the Santos Port (Brazil) have just gone back to their
jobs at Cosipa's berth. A temporary agreement was reached with the
company in order to discuss the working conditions as a whole. There
will be a truce until April 30 in order to allow the discussion of a
collective agreement. In this period the ships handled at Cosipa's
private berth will be handled both by the dockers and the workers
hired by the company. The first meeting for the discussion of this
collective agreement will take place on Tuesday, April 22.

The national strike declared this morning, April 18, has been
suspended, including at the Santos Port, which had been paralysed
since April 15, as a reaction to the assault to the two ships,
"Vancouver" and "Marcos Dias", which had been occupied by the workers
since April 2. The work in all ports will be resumed from today (April
19) at 7 am.

According to the co-ordinator of the Santos Port Interunion
organisation, Joaquim da Silve (Quincas) president of the Dockers
Union, "the most important thing about this truce is the reopening of
the negotiations, to a table, from where they should never have left".

For him, to force Cosipa back to the negotiations was a partial
victory, important in order to put the debate about the ports back to
where it belongs. "This difficult phase of the workers movement we are
going through here, also shows the importance of combining effective
actions with and effort of international communications and support in
order to spread the word about the worker's struggle" he said.

Jose Tarcisco Florentino da Silva, president of the Sindicatop dos
Conferentes and vice president of the Federacao dos Trabalhadores
Avulsos (Fenccovib) also stressed the importance of world-wide
solidarity: "We know this is not just a Brazilian struggle or a
struggle of the Santos port. The same kind of problems apply in
different countries. Disputes like the one in Liverpool, in Seoul, in
Amsterdam and now in Rotterdam are the result of a deliberate project
of casualisation of labour relations and cuts in wages. The workers
need to organise a global response to this project".

--------------

PORTS PARALYSED IN PROTEST FOR THE LACK OF AGREEMENT

APRIL 18, 13,30 PM UPDATE

More than 300 thousand tonnes of cargo have not been handled in Santos
because of the protest strike, which today, April 18 has reached its
fourth day. 38 ships are paralysed in the berths and 21 others outside
the port. Today, there have been solidarity strikes in the most
important Brazilian ports.

66,000 Brazilian port workers struck today, April 18, o organised
solidarity demonstrations against the exclusion of unionised labour
 from the work at Cosipa. The national movement wants to put pressure
in favour of a way out from the impasse according to the National
Dockers Federation.

Apart from Santos, the largest Latin-American port, the ports of Rio
de Janeiro, Rio Grande, Porto Alegre, Imbituba and Sao Francisco are
also paralysed. The port of Vitoria organised slow downs today and
will strike tomorrow , April 19. The port of Itajai has struck for two
hours in each of the six shifts. The port of Paranagua organised
public demonstrations in solidarity with the movement in Santos.

The negotiations, interrupted on the night of the 17, were resumed
yesterday. The main obstacle is still Cosipa's intention of handling
the ships in its own berth with its own labour. The unions didn't even
accepted a division of labour, because they say this would create a
precedent which would be latter adopted in other ports in the country.
This system would only be a temporary one before reaching a definitive
agreement. Cosipa maintain its position of not wanting to negotiate
the handling of its ships with its own workers.

------------

PRESSURE AGAINST THE OFFICIALS OF THE "VANCOUVER"

Reliable sources obtained by the Intersindical Portuaria de Santos
(INTERPORTUS) reveal that the officials of the "Vancouver" have been
subjected to pressures because of the interview they gave to the
National Confederation of Sea, Air and River Transport (CONTTMAF),
denouncing the risk conditions in the operations handled by Cosipa
with its own workers.

The Fertimport Maritime Agency, which represents the owner of the
ship, denied to the journalists the veracity of this information.
According to internal sources this attitude would be the result of
pressure made by Cosipa, which would also be pressurising the
officials not to give any more statements to the journalists, although
the officials have not retreated from their previous statements yet.

The original interview was made in a bar, at Santos city centre, with
dozens of witnesses. Amongst them the president of the Federacao
Nacional dos Avulsos (Fenccovib), Mario Teixeira, the president of the
Sindicato dos Conferentes de Carga e Descarga, Jose Tarciso Florentino
da Silva; the president of the Sindicato dos Vigias Porturarios and
general secretart of Conttmaf, Carlos Henrique Matos (Caio) and the
directos of the Santos Dockers Union, Orlando Santana.

 ----------------------

E-mail president Cardoso of Brazil to emphasize world-wide support for
the Santos workers. You can e-mail president Cardoso at this address:

e-mail: pr-AT-planalto.gov.br

Send a copy to the Santos portworkers union:

interportus-AT-portodesantos.com

You can also fax president Cardoso at: Fax: (55 61) 226 7566

More info in English at LabourNet:

http://www.labournet.org.uk

and in Portuguese at the Santos Unions Web site:

http://www.portodesantos.com/sindicatos

------

Originator: union-d-AT-wolfnet.com

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

WORKERS REPRESENTATIVES MEET COSIPA'S PRESIDENT

PORT OF SANTOS GOES BACK TO NORMALITY

APRIL 22, 17H. UPDATE

The opening of the negotiations today, April 22, in the afternoon, was
little more than an exchange of technical and concrete proposals.
Tomorrow there will be a new meeting which is expected to be more
fruitful from the dialogue point of view. The representatives of the
workers will meet with the president of the steel company, Marcus
Tambasco.

Jose Florentino da Silva, president of the Sindicato dos Conferentes
and member of the negotiating commission hopes that this meeting could
lay the basis to put the debate on the modernisation of the ports back
to where it should have never left: the negotiating table, around
serious proposals.

The Port of Santos has been running again now for three days, since
the end of the strike, on April 19 in the morning. The total
normalisation of operations is expected shortly. Today, April 22,
there are still 14 ships waiting to enter the Port and be handled.

IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE AN AGREEMENT IT IS ESSENTIAL TO MANTAIN THE
MOBILISATION

To maintain the mobilisation and the national understanding of the
need for a national solidarity network is now the main aim of the
unions. The worker must also be regularly informed about the situation
of the negotiations.

The negotiations which started today, April 22, will be difficult. The
whole of the country must be on alert, in front of the intransigent
position shown by Cosipa since the middle of March when it announced
its intention of handled ships with their own non unionised workforce.

The information in most of the media has been biased and openly back
the aims of Cosipa, blanking out all press releases from InterPortuS
(the port unions). Some, as the Revista Veja, by Editora Abril, went
so far as to announce "the end of stevedoring" in its reports. They
take the side of Cosipa openly, as if this was just a big football
match.

LEADERS IN BRASILIA TO PUT AN END TO THE DIVISION OF THE PORTS

Trade union leaders of dockworkers from all over the country will be
in Brasilia from today, April 22, in order to meet MPs and leaders of
the political parties represented in the Congress. The aim is to get
support for an urgent vote for a Bill which would include all the
areas segregated from Brazilian ports back into the organised port
areas.

The Bill, by Vicente Cascione MP (Brazilian Labour Party, PTB - Sao
Paulo) was accepted by the speaker Telma de Souza MP (Workers Party,
PT - Sao Paulo) and now its urgency should be accepted so that it can
be voted on by Parliament. This is one of the ways adopted to put an
end to the privileges and appearance of private berths outside the
organised ports, which has been used by the companies which want to
operate ships without registered dockworkers.

In the case of Santos, the division was made by the Transport Ministry
through the Portaria 94/95, which was in breach of the Ports Law, the
1886/96 Decree and the 137 ILO Convention.



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