Brazil Signals Willingness to Adjust Port Law to Avert Strike

Brazil’s government is weighing changes in its proposed regulatory framework for ports to avert a dock workers’ strike that could hurt trade in Latin America’s largest economy.

Government officials and union leaders will meet tomorrow in Brasilia, Ports Minister Leonidas Cristino said in an interview in Brasilia today. Dock workers will hold a six-hour stoppage tomorrow to protest a proposed regulation allowing privately owned terminals to hire workers who are not members of OGMO, the organization that currently manages the workforce at all public ports.

“I’m not saying that we will accept, but we can change the measure to a degree to provide greater legal certainty,” Cristino said. “The essence of the measure will not be altered.”

Expiring terminal concessions with Cargill Inc., Cosan SA Industria & Comercio, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) and Libra Terminais SA will probably be renewed if the companies boost investments, Cristino said, without elaborating on the measures.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carla Simoes in Brasilia Newsroom at csimoes1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andre Soliani at asoliani@bloomberg.net