A new round of negotiations between the workers and Cosipa is taking place today, 17 April. A mass meeting of workers announced approval of the major part of the proposal presented by the company. They accept discussing the size of the teams, methods of payment and other items. The only impediment, according to the leaders, is acceptance that the work on board the ships could be done by workers not requisitioned via the organ for management of manual labour. This point was opposed, categorically, by the assembly of the ranks.
While this is so, the strike continues to totally paralyse the Port of Santos, ever since it began on 15 April in protest against the invasion by the Federal Police of the ships "Marcos Dias" and "Vancouver", at the Cosipa terminal. The workers on board were arrested, interrogated and later freed. There was no violence. The crisis generated by the invasion, however, continues to maintain high tension at the Cosipa entrance, principally due to the presence of elite marksmen of the Military Police, posted on the roof and on railway wagons, carrying long range automatic weapons equipped with telescopic sights.
Translated by LabourNet