AquaChile on Tuesday laid off 180 workers, including managers and administrators, at its Puerto Montt facility, according to a Mundo Acuícola report.
The news comes about a month-and-a-half after one of Chile’s largest farmed salmon producers laid off 450 workers.
Gastón Gutiérrez, president of AquaChile’s Union No. 1, told Mundo Acuícola that the plant will not close and that the layoffs are part of a collective bargaining agreement initiated in mid-May.
The plant was damaged by a fire on 14 May, forcing AquaChile to shut it down for about two weeks. No one was injured in the blaze.
Chile’s farmed salmon producers have been forced to curb production and lay off workers over the past year-and-a-half as a result of the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) outbreak. ISA is an influenza-like virus that afflicts fish but not humans.
Discussion Topic: Do you expect more layoffs in Chile’s farmed salmon industry this year? Discuss
