Another labor strike stalls Argentina grains exports

Argentina's grains shipments and other exports have stalled because of a strike by customs workers demanding priority access to Covid-19 vaccines, the latest labor action stemming from the pandemic.

"The strike is affecting the entire country," Capym ports chamber manager Guillermo Wade said.

The Supara union of customs workers is conducting the strike between 9am and 4pm ET today to protest what they characterize as an unfulfilled vaccine pledge by the health ministry.

"Faced with the lack of concrete action, and considering that the health of customs workers has been seriously compromised in previous days", the union stopped work and threatened further action.

"If we do not receive an answer we will have to intensify the measures," said Supara union spokesperson Marcelo Bisurgi.

Grains giant Argentina has one of the world's worst rates of Covid-19 infection and deaths.

In late May, port workers halted exports in a separate strike over vaccine access. And in April, healthcare workers demanding jabs laid roadblocks that paralyzed oil and gas operations and thwarted fuel distribution.

Although labor unrest is common in Argentina, pandemic-related demands are a growing new phenomenon. An oilseed crushers union in the port city of Rosario has warned it will strike unless its workers are given priority vaccine access.

Oil workers in the Patagonian provinces of Neuquen, home to the Vaca Muerta shale formation, and Rio Negro are demanding the same.

Argentina has applied 14.7mn doses of Russia's Sputnik V, China's Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines, but less than 7pc of its population of some 45mn has been fully inoculated against Covid-19.

By Daniel Politi