Union of Stevadores of Santos Threaten To Stop Working

At a meeting held at the headquarters of the Union of Stevadores of Santos, São Vicente, Guarujá and Cubatão, which was attended by all the presidents of the professional unions, a series of measures was decided on the operational continuity of the Port of Santos, last Tuesday.

The Union sent a letter to the National Secretariat of Ports and Waterway Transport expressing the need for a complete halt of operations in the Port of Santos, starting this Wednesday, 18th, due to the worsening of the pandemic generated by the COVID-19 in Brazil.

In the letter, the union president stressed that stevedores are exposed to high risk, since they work on the front lines and are subject to high contamination, because the vessels come from countries facing the pandemic.

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The Stevedore Union added that most federal, executive, legislative and judicial bodies have stopped their physical operations.

This means that many industrial inputs and imported basic consumer products could go into shortages, especially of hospital medical supplies essential for the crisis period.

It is worth mentioning that the Government has determined that a series of medical products import tax will be lowered to zero and they will have priority treatment in customs clearance procedures.

SPA highlighted, in a note, that, together with the port community, it acting to guarantee the full functioning of the Port of Santos, respecting the determinations of the Health authorities.

There will be even more negotiations between the stevedores in order to reach a final understanding. Meanwhile, all port activities continue to be carried out normally.