Port workers reject expansion plan, citing automation and wage stagnation

The port of Puerto Azul moves forty percent of Costa Mar's marine-produce exports—frozen fish, cacao, hardwoods—and employs twenty-two hundred workers directly. The Port Authority's modernization plan, approved by the Federal Transport Ministry in March, promises to increase throughput by thirty-five percent and reduce per-container handling costs by a quarter. But the plan also eliminates four hundred stevedoring jobs through automation.

The Costa Mar Port Workers' Union, which represents eighteen hundred of those employees, has rejected the Authority's severance and retraining package as inadequate. The union is demanding a wage increase tied to productivity gains, a no-layoff clause, and guaranteed retraining with full pay for any displaced workers. Negotiations have stalled for six weeks.

Yesterday, union leadership announced a strike authorization vote set for June 15. If members approve—current sentiment runs strongly in favor—the port could be shut down within two weeks. A prolonged closure would ripple through Costa Mar's economy and test whether the federal government will intervene in a regional labor dispute.