Peruvian steelworkers demand 8-hour shift

PERU: The IMF general secretary, Marcello Malentacchi, has written a letter of protest today (May 7) to the management of Sider Peru concerning the company's determination to maintain a 12-hour nightshift. Not only has this been imposed on the workforce unilaterally, but it is also illegal, and, wrote Malentacchi, "the IMF fully supports the workers and union in their demand for the core labour right to an 8-hour nightshift." At the time that Sider Peru, a steel-producing company located in Chimbote, northern Peru, was privatised in 1996, working time was divided into three 8-hour shifts, and had been so since the 1960s. However, in January 1999, the company - facilitated by a decree passed by the then Fujimori government, and without consulting the union or workers - enforced a new timetable of two 6-hour dayshifts and one 12-hour nightshift. In February this year, the Peruvian Congress passed Law No. 27671, modifying the Fujimori decree and reinstating the 8-hour work shift. But in March, with the company continuing the 12-hour nightshift, the Sindicatos de Obreros y de Empleados, the union representing the Sider Peru workers, filed a petition with the labour authorities to request the reduction of the 12-hour shift to 8 hours, in accordance with the law. Although the authorities found in favour of the union's complaint, the company - openly defying the law - still refuses to reinstate the 8-hour shift. The IMF would ask its affiliates to add their support to the Sider Peru workers' struggle by sending protest letters to the company as follows: Empresa Sider Peru S.A.
Planta Siderúrgica de Chimbote
Fax: (++51) 44 328493 Empresa Sider Peru S.A.
Oficinas Centrales de Lima
Fax: (++51) 1 3620636 with copies to the IMF and the union: Sindicato de Obreros de Sider Peru (Chimbote)
Sr. Eberto Carrión Pérez, Secretario General
Fax: (++51) 44 324135 Sindicato de Empleados de Sider Peru (Chimbote)
Sr. Oscar Palacios Cedamanos, Secretario General
Fax: (++51) 44 325186