On May 31, on occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, the Autonomous Tobacco Workers’ Union (SAT) held a press conference to address several issues. Sirel spoke with SAT general secretary Gerardo Pereira about it.

-What issues did you address in the press conference?

-On World No Tobacco Day we wanted to use this contact with the national media to remind the public that seven months and ten days ago Philip Morris closed its offices and plants in Uruguay leaving more than 60 people out of work. Forty-five of these were workers represented by our union and the remaining 15 were administrative personnel.

We also wanted to remind the government that under the Framework Convention [the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] on which the National Anti-Smoking Campaign is based there are certain provisions that  make signatory governments accountable to tobacco workers and growers affected economically and socially by this campaign, binding them to assist these workers with concrete solutions. But we haven’t had any solution from the government yet.

Last Tuesday, May 29, we presented President José Mujica with a letter from the IUF supporting our petition, which was approved at the 26^th Congress of the IUF recently held in Geneva, Switzerland, and signed by trade union representatives from across Latin America, Spain, Italy, and France.

We hope to receive a positive sign from the government.

-You also made a public denunciation...

-Yes. We denounced that after the local factory closed, street markets, newsstands, and neighborhood grocery stores started selling Marlboro cigarettes for US$ 2. These cigarettes, as can be seen on the label, are produced in Argentina, and they’re smuggled into the country.

These products are smuggled by the transnational corporation itself and they lack the warnings that cigarettes are required by Uruguayan law to feature on their labels. We believed it was necessary to alert the Ministry of Public Health and other relevant bodies to this alarming situation, which we had predicted would occur sooner or later, as Philip Morris closed its factory but is not willing to give up the Uruguay market; it’s just looking to get back at the government.

This unfair competition leads to more job losses as it harms the sales of national companies that continue to operate in the domestic market.

-How many of the fired workers are still unemployed?

-Of the workers who were fired, seven were absorbed by the tobacco company Monte Paz, and there are possibilities that others will be hired in the next few months. Some others have found jobs, but through their own efforts.

Unfortunately, the government has not achieved absolutely anything so far. This is aggravated by the fact that as of April the laid-off workers who are under 50 are no longer covered by unemployment insurance as the mandatory six-month period that all workers are entitled to expired. We requested an extension of that coverage but the Ministry of Labor refused, saying it was not legally possible. That means that almost 20 of the laid-off workers are not even receiving unemployment insurance.

Things are pretty tough, because we the government didn’t even help us in that sense, when it has an obligation under an international convention to provide assistance to anyone who is affected as a consequence of anti-tobacco programs.