Despite a long and difficult negotiation, the National Sole Union of Coca-Cola Workers (STCC) obtained significant results, including the reinstatement of the 42 workers that had been laid off and improvements in labor safety.

Over the past week, Sirel had been reporting on the National Sole Union of Coca-Cola Workers’ (STCC) involvement in negotiations, meetings and strikes, as Coca-Cola distribution contracts between the Federation of Beverage Transportation Workers (FETRABE) and the company Montevideo Refrescos S.A. (MONRESA) were being revised. It had also denounced the layoff of 42 workers employed in distribution tasks. STCC president Antranic Adourian informed Sirel today that after very lengthy negotiations –with unprecedented sessions that went on for 36 hours nonstop– the Union is very pleased to announce that it has obtained the reinstatement of the 42 workers that had been fired.

FETRABE’s Governing Committee, the representatives of Coca-Cola, and the Ministry of Labor had been engaging in lengthy negotiations since last week. Negotiations finally concluded last Sunday at 7:30 am with a very significant gain: the workers that had been laid off by one of the distributing companies will return to work today as employees of FETRABE in its capacity as distributor of Coca-Cola. Many of these workers had been hired under seasonal arrangements, and they will be rehired under such schemes, but with the possibility of becoming regular workers.

Another important gain was that a group of workers from the departments of Florida and Canelones, whose situation was compromised by the reform implemented in the distribution system in these localities, will now be working for MONRESA, which means that they will also be keeping their jobs.

Consulted about other results, Adourián said that workers from outside Montevideo obtained a compensation for the non-worked days, while plant workers will be paid in full for those days. “The process of negotiation was particularly rough with respect to productivity and new elements in work levels, as they wanted to reduce wages, and we succeeded in preventing that. Also, a fixed half-hour extra pay was agreed for certain situations, such as workers who are kept waiting in the distribution area and workers who are in charge of closing the register at the end of the workday,” he explained.

A significant advance was also made in terms of labor safety: a Labor Safety Committee was created, where in addition to management and the Union, the Ministry of Labor, represented by the General Labor Inspection Office, and the Association of Retail Shops, Bars, Small Supermarkets and Related Establishments of Uruguay (CAMBADU) will participate, as it will be necessary to establish parameters and organize places where safety is not very clear, as well as conduct inspections and set regulations, and work in conjunction with the Ministry of Labor to move forward in this sense. CAMBADU’s involvement will be important towards raising awareness among storeowners, who are also part of the chain of distribution, and towards achieving adequate levels of safety for workers.

A Monitoring Committee was also formed, as the agreement reached covers multiple issues and demands, and this committee will have to study how it will be applied, in order to improve or enhance it, or to detect any aspects where it might fail. The agreement includes new work methods that will have to be examined.

“Right now, we see the results as very positive. There were a great number of issues negotiated. In particular, there is a huge satisfaction over the return of our fellow workers, who are very happy to be reinstated. Next Wednesday we will hold an internal meeting to properly inform all workers and explain the agreement to them, which is complicated, and to tell them about certain benefits they will be entitled to as of now, such as medical emergency services, special vacation leave, etc.,” Adourián added.

Lastly, the president of STCC thanked Rel-UITA, FOEB (Uruguay’s union of beverage workers and employees), and PIT-CNT (Uruguay’s national federation of unions) who followed the negotiations closely and whose support he believes was instrumental in securing these significant gains. “The information published by Rel-UITA in its web site gave the conflict great visibility: it was posted in all our bulletin boards, and 150 copies of each article were made and distributed among the workers, while we simultaneously made all union members aware that the site provides a global coverage that is significant as it reports the situation we are living to all our fellow Coca-Cola workers around the world,” he concluded.