San Francisco: APM Terminals (APMT), operator of the strike-hit Callao port in Peru, has started laying off workers involved in the industrial action, according to claims by the union on Thursday.
The drastic step comes just a day after an APMT spokesperson denied that the dispute was having any impact on port operations.
Union workers began the action on May 13 when about 700 personnel went off the job to protest the introduction of an electronic rostering system. That, in turn, had been part of talks about collective working conditions.
Striking workers’ duties had been taken on by replacement staff, including members of the Peru Navy, but delays and economic losses were occurring, said the Sutramporpc union.
Negotiations, held at Peru’s Ministry of Labour, had been ongoing between the two parties but they are now in jeopardy since the job termination letters started landing in strikers’ mail boxes.
