Argentina soy-crush workers extend strike over pay to third day

Workers at oilseed-processing plants in Argentina are extending their strike for a third consecutive day as wage talks with trading houses hit an impasse, crippling activity in the world’s biggest exporter of soy meal and soy oil.

Representatives of the two main unions, SOEA and the Federation of Oilseed Industry Workers, confirmed the continuation of the strike to Bloomberg News. Unions are unhappy with wage increases offered by trading houses, saying they aren’t enough to prevent an erosion of purchasing power amid Argentina’s chronic inflation running at some 270 percent a year.

The strike is impacting a slew of ports, according to shipping agency Nabsa, including those of Argentina’s biggest crushers such as Viterra Inc, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co.

Gustavo Idigoras, head of crusher association CIARA that’s leading negotiations with workers, said the delay to shipments is costing Argentina some US$50 million a day as well as staining the country’s reputation as a reliable global supplier.

With the talks in deadlock, no immediate end to the strike is in sight. “As things are going right now, we’ll decide on a day-to-day basis,” said Martin Morales, an official for SOEA.

SOEA represents workers in San Lorenzo, a Paraná river port district accounting for about 70 percent of Argentine soy shipments. The oilseed industry federation groups workers at plants elsewhere on the Paraná and on the Atlantic coast.