The nationwide postal strike in Chile has been called off after several days following amediated pay agreement giving increases of up to 11.6% for the lowest-paid workers.
About 5,000 postal workers stopped work on August 6 following the breakdown of talks betweenCorreosChile and four unions, which were seeking a basic increase of at least 10% for thelowest-paid employees.
But after mediation by a government body, the Chilean postal operator signed three-yearagreements on Monday with three of the four unions, which jointly represent more than 3,500 Chileanpostal workers. The deal was announced by CorreosChile yesterday (Tuesday).
Under the agreements, there will be an 11.6% pay increase for staff at the lowest salary levels,scaling downwards for higher-paid staff. There will also be a one-off payment of 900,000 pesos(about €1,340).
CorreosChile described this pay rise as “an effort of solidarity by the company for workers withlower earnings” and the overall increases as “an unprecedented effort in the history of Correos”.
CorreosChile chief executive Victor Ide said the deals represented “the successful completion ofthe negotiation process both for the company and for its workers and customers” and signalled thestart of a new era for the postal operator as “a modern, world-class company” engaged in “anefficient, competitive and transparent management project”.
