Sep
6
Vieira expropriation approved
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Minister Rafael Gilmartin assured local seamen will have priority on the vessels from the expropiated firm. (Photo: YouTube/soradigital)
Vieira expropriation approved
ARGENTINA
Friday, September 07, 2012, 01:30 (GMT + 9)
On Wednesday, and by majority, the House of Representatives of the province of Santa Cruz approved the project to expropriate the Galician group Eduardo Vieira and its subsidiary Vieira SA.
The lawmakers introduced some changes to the text presented by the deputy Roberto Fernández, who justified his bill on the need to redirect a serious situation arising “from a breach of the company to fulfill its obligations with the employees and with the suppliers.”
Fernández argued that this situation caused “about 340 people who directly depended on the company to stop receiving their wages with the impact it produces on society in Santa Cruz.”
Some days ago, the Government in Santa Cruz ordered the intervention of the company due to the breach of its obligations with employees, suppliers and other entities.
For the Spanish group, the decision of the government of Santa Cruz is “illegal”, according to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia.
The expropriation includes the processing plant and storage division that belongs to Vieira in the city of Puerto Deseado, the seven vessels in its fleet and “assets such as machinery, furniture and existing inputs,” states the rule approved by 22 votes in favour and 2 abstentions.
The Minister of Production, Rafael Gilmartin, announced that Santa Cruz received an offer from a new company called San Jorge, which emerged from the Maritime Workers’ Union (SOMU).
Besides, he said that Governor Daniel Peralta “expressly” requested that the company should take position as to the status of Vieira, which would be carried out in a week, reported Mar y Pesca.
The minister assured that priority will be given to local seamen on the vessels from the expropriated firm.
“What we request from the union is that in the ports in Santa Cruz, our sailors should be taken on board first. Once the applications from local sailors are covered, then sailors from the other provinces can be accepted,” added Gilmartin.
Before addressing the proposed bill setting the expropriation of Vieira, the vice president of the company, Daniel Badens sent a registered letter to MPs and to the chairperson of the Legislature, Fernando Cotillo, warning them to refrain from validating the proposal.
“Peralta’s administration chose a de facto decision to intervene the plant and vessels, regardless of the bankruptcy process taking place in Vieira Argentina SA and, what is worse, based on a rule that was not even in effect when the person appointed as auditor took over the plant and the refrigerator division in Puerto Deseado,” the document stated.
“The financial crisis in Vieira Argentina SA is not definite, the firm intends to overcome it and to continue as a source of employment and wealth for the province, and indeed the reorganization is the legal tool to get out of the crisis in an organised way. Far from it, the measures questioned here, push this company into the abyss after more than 12 years of investment in Puerto Deseado,” Badens added in the letter.
Related article:
– Special session addresses Vieira expropriation project
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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