Dive Brief:
- Port workers in Chile reached an agreement with management on Saturday and ended a three-week strike that had slowed fruit exports.
- Some 4,384 containers of fruit were stranded in ports across the country, according to customs authorities.
- The strike came just weeks after the end of an earlier strike by government workers brought fruit exports to a standstill.
Dive Insight:
We, like millions of Americans, have gotten quite used to the idea of buying fresh fruit all year long. And we owe that privilege at least partially to the good people of Chile. Just as any second-grader can tell you, our winter is South America's summer. And that fortunate circumstance has led to a vibrant trade in fruits from the southern hemisphere.
That trade has also been of benefit to Chile. There are thousands of jobs related to fruit exports. And we suppose it was inevitable that Chilean workers would come to want more from those jobs as time went on. That is one of the prices of progress. Still, we are a little worried by recent events. Our sense is that labor in Chile is dangerously close to sabotaging the country's export-driven industries (copper suffered much more than fruit in this most recent dispute.)
