Cermaq is in the process of laying off over 1,000 workers at its salmon farming and processing plants in Ancud and Quemchi, in Los Lagos, Chile, the Chile’s National Confederation of Salmon Workers (Contrasal) relayed.
A future for workers in the Chilean salmon industry is currently suspect, according to John Hurtado, president of Contrasal. Projections originally tallied the total number of layoffs for the country at 2,000 – Cermaq’s elimination of half of that estimate has left Hurtado and Contrasal concerned.
"To us this is a betrayal, the government’s reaction is slow and they think the ex-workers can now live on unemployment benefits without thinking that in many cases the work of these people is not covered and they can’t get this help,” concluded Hurtado to El Ciudadano.
