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Argentina chemical workers in Campana, Zarate strike for pay rise
Platts
Buenos Aires
Petroleumworld.com 07 16 07Workers at chemical and petrochemical plants in the Argentine districts
of Campana and Zarate are on strike Friday for the eighth day to demand higher
wages, a source close to the situation said. The walkout began July 6 and is
hitting around two-dozen companies in northern Buenos Aires province.Unionized workers want wage increases of 16.5%, more than the 15% offered
by companies, the person said.Argentina's Chemical and Petrochemical Industry Association began
negotiating the renewal of a four-year collective work agreement with
unionized workers June 25 after a five-day walkout and previous stoppages
since May. The strikes in June cost the companies an estimated $50 million in
lost sales.On Wednesday, Carboclor, a maker of MTBE, isopropyl alcohol and toluene,
said workers were on strike at its Campana plant and that this was "affecting
the productivity of the company and the normal supply? of its products to its
clients," according to a statement.The strike also is hitting Petrobras Energia, a unit of Brazil's
state-run Petrobras that produces ammonia and urea in Campana and polystyrene
and bi-oriented polystyrene sheets in Zarate. Other companies in the area are
PET maker Eastman Chemical, aluminum hydroxychloride maker Quipro,
fuel-additives producer Quimigas and Cabot Argentina, a maker of soot or
lampblack that is a feedstock for the chemical industry.--Charles Newbery, newsdesk@platts.com
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Platts 13 07 07
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