Chile: Fruit Bureau meets with President of the Senate

August 21, 2015

Senate President, Patricio Walker, received in his office a group of representatives of the “Permanent Bureau of Labour and Social Dialogue of the Fruit Sector”, also known as “Fruit Mesa” to hear the main proposals on the national fruit sector Labor Reform.

The meeting with the President of the Senate, took place Monday afternoon just past, and involved the table represent the Fruit, Rodrigo Muñoz, Executive Secretary of the Bureau, the leaders of the workers Second Steilen, Orlando Contreras and Juan Gutiérrez, representatives of employers, Ronald Bown, President of ASOEX; Miguel Canala-Echeverria, General Manager ASOEX; Edmundo Araya, Secretary General of ASOEX.

Among the topics discussed by the leaders, are the scope of Art. 87 of the Labour Code, for which they explained the need for the concept of “agricultural worker” is also extended to workers who work in the packing houses and refrigerators, because, otherwise, the value chain would be incomplete, especially in cases which may be required for the receipt and processing of fruit bats in preventing exceptional weather events such as rain or frost.

Problems in collecting packing cherries

The fact of the case through the cherry harvest in Curicó last year, during which crops had to be made on Saturday and Sunday exemplified, to prevent damage and loss of fruit resulting from the rains forecast by the Meteorological Office Chile for Monday and Tuesday. “The cherries must enter the same day and cold packing process to be exported, but packing workers – they do not form-agricultural workers could not work that day This is a contradiction, since, having these workers. agreed a good deal of overtime wages for that, for reasons of force majeure, the packing was closed and fined “. Note that this example also shows that the covenant between permanent and temporary workers, and the employer came on Friday after rain forecast mentioned.

At the meeting, key aspects of another bill that the President of the Republic announced last May 21 and refers to the Statute of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker who is in the Chamber of Deputies were also analyzed. In this regard, the delegation of the Fruit Board raised the need for coherence between the Labor Reform Law, which is currently before the Senate, and the statute that will be discussed from October reportedly, especially those aspects such as periods of collective bargaining as critical harvest period that could not have stoppages and others.

Also it is relieved that at the end of the meeting, Senator Walker described as unprecedented that unions representing workers and employers arise together, some problems with the current Labour Reform Bill pending, along with possible solutions. Meanwhile, the leaders expressed their satisfaction with the responsiveness of the parliamentarian. Finally, it is important to note that were also positive results of the meeting of the Fruit Bureau, on the morning of Monday, with the Senators and Carolina Goic Manuel Antonio Matta.

Source: ASOEX (Fruit Exporters Association of Chile)