In a general assembly earlier this week, Itajai tallyclerks were presented with a proposal made by their Union to APM Terminals (APMT). They subsequently voted 40 to 9 for an immediate return to work, ending a strike which had lasted for 22 days.

Itajai tallclerks go back to work

APMT had originally wanted to employ 24 tallyclerks as permanent fixed employees out of a total of the port’s 54 self-employed tallyclerks.

The proposal provided APMT with a tariff readjustment, which, combined with a retirement package for some of the tallymen, enabled it to continue to hire self-employed tallymen for the duration of the new two year labour agreement

Estimates of the loss to the Port of Itajai, the main port of Santa Catarina and second largest in Brazil in terms of the movement of containers, vary widely but it is believed that some 30 vessels were diverted to neighbouring ports, with a subsequent loss to the terminal of around 20,000 containers.