VALPARAISO, CHILE - The Chilean Fruit Growers Federation (Fedefruta) has announced that by 11:15 am dock workers at the Valparaíso Port have ended their strike and resumed operations.

This strike was the first for the port in 15 years and left two ships of fruit unattended to. 

On Monday morning, 500 workers in Terminals 1 and 2 went on strike, reportedly due to their opposition to new provisions of the Customs Service to meet the clean load standards phytosanitary inspections provided by ZEAL (Extension Zone and Logistic Support in Valparaiso).

According to Economia y Negocios, rocks were used to break windows in some of the Port’s offices. 

In response to these allegations of violence during the strike, Company Puerto Valparaíso released a statement saying, “Our company filed a lawsuit against those responsible for damaging our corporate building facilities and threatened the safety of our staff.”

Fedefruta said in a statement, “We feel very positive this understanding between the parties involved and we hope that differences in the management of clean loads in Valparaíso [will] be resolved in the best way for authorities, companies, workers, and users of terminals.”

Fedefruta President Juan Carolus Brown has acknowledged that the situation is extremely complex. 

Brown has said, ”We regret that differences in the management of clean loads and phytosanitary inspections largest port in Chile for our industry lead us to a conflict that could seriously damage our work. We are consulting all parties involved to understand what solutions they are looking to solve this problem." 

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for developing updates on strikes affecting the produce industry.

Fedefruta