© Provided by Page/12
Since last Thursday the drivers of Delta boats they started a unemployment for an indefinite periodcomplaining regarding the delay in the payment of wages by transport companies. The situation also generates discomfort and daily complications for those who live on the islands and they depend entirely on that public transport service to get around and go to work and school, among other situations. Various sources estimate that around ten thousand people on the islands are affected by the conflict.
Maritime Workers Union, S.O.M.U and the River Skippers and Officers Center of fishing and maritime cabotage suspended activities at 00 hours on April 7, and the measure continues until the total salary of the workers is paid, union spokesmen detailed to Page 12.
“The measure continues. We have colleagues who tell us that some companies are entering the payment of salaries. Interisleña, which is the largest, just turned 50 percent of what it owes to the workers. With these numbers the measure continues”, said Hernán De Corte, secretary of SOMU.
The companies in charge of the service, Delta, El Leon, Interisleña, Jilguero and Pfluger lines, are subsidized by the Ministry of Labor and depend on it for the payment of wages, assured the representatives of the workers. “If there is a delay of one or two days in payment, the companies transfer it to our workers and we cannot allow it, that is why the measure,” added the union leader, noting that “every month they are delaying payment 3 or 4 days.” “If payments were not received on the fourth business day, as the employment contract law says, by the fifth day, we are going to strike,” he warned.
In a statement, the Island Permanent Advisory Council (CAPI) asked the mayor, Julio Zamora, to “assume the emergency situation.” “The Delta is not only a tourist destination, in it we live more than 20,000 people who mobilize daily to work, study, develop our activities, like all Buenos Aires”, detailed the entity.
“It is a very sensitive issue for us because we know that by taking these measures we leave all the islanders isolated, but there is no other. The only way we can get them to pay is total unemployment. If we make a momentary stoppage of service, for example, instead of five days, we have two weeks to receive the salary”, concluded De Corte.
