Juan Montenegro, president of the Fisheries Workers' Federation. (Photo: Fetrapes)
Court of appeals rules against Alimar for labour contract pretence
(CHILE, 8/2/2016)
The Court of Appeals of Concepción (Biobío Region) rejected the appeal for annulment filed by contractors Alimentos Marinos SA (Alimar), Inversiones Lomar Limitada, Sociedad Pesquera Fabila and Compañia Limitada, Sociedad Pesquera Comercializadora LOAR Limitada and Industrias Isla Quihua S.A.
In this way, it ratified the ruling of Oral Labour Court of the community issued on April 21, which determined that the workers in the Union Interempresas Tripulantes Pesqueros y Otros Afines (SININTRIPES), who had been hired by these companies should modify the individual contracts, "replacing the employer’s name by Alimar SA, and keeping the other terms of the contract and its date unchanged."
The Court’s ruling explains that "a company or partnership was made for each vessel and the obligation each of them has is to recruit staff for fishing trips and surveillance work when the ship is in port, while the determination of when the trips will be carried out, the periods they will last, the resource to be captured, the amount of the resource and the port of call must be determined by the chief company, which owns the ships, that is to say, Alimar SA".
It also notes that "the companies that hire the staff do not have other workers except for those carrying out the respective task and do not fulfill other tasks apart from performing fishing activities and watching the boat on behalf of the principal; (...) all operations made by the ship operators, by contract, are performed on behalf of Alimar and what is caught is owned by the latter".
Upon learning about the new ruling of the Court of Concepción, the Federation of Fishworkers (FETRAPES), represented by its president Juan Montenegro called for the government to audit the bad labour practices of the big industry, which have enabled the pretence of contracts through "dummy" companies.
"Both Undersecretary Súnico and the Minister of Labour have disregarded these malpractices performed by the large fishing industry and that we have reported on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, as it has been the tenor in the fishing issue and perhaps due to certain interests, the Government does nothing and it is necessary to wait for the courts to take action on the matter," stressed Montenegro.
FETRAPES highlighted that Alimar, which is owned by the family Izquierdo Menendez and Foodcorp, is one of four fishing firms which account for 90 per cent of the quota of horse mackerel in Chile. And it stressed that the Economics National Prosecution also investigates it to prevent free trade.
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Information of the company:
City:
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Providencia
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State/ZIP:
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Santiago ( )
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Chile
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Phone:
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+56 2 225 6190
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+56 2 225 6190
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pweber@alimar.cl
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