Labour Ministry issues mandatory conciliation over waste collection conflict

The Labour Ministry ordered on Monday, a mandatory conciliation between CEAMSE and the City Government over the waste collection strike.

Buenos Aires province Cabinet Chief Alberto Pérez announced the measure after holding a meeting with his City counterpart Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, City Public Spaces Minister Diego Santilli and with CEAMSE’s secretary-general Jorge Mancini at the headquarters of the Provincia Bank.

The waste collection workers began the strike on Sunday night as a reaction to the conflict between Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli and City Mayor Mauricio Macri over the implementation of Zero Waste Act, so that the City’s waste does not overfill the CEAMSE Metropolitan Green Belt, which will no longer receive debris and construction materials.

During the meeting, Pérez insisted on the need to apply the law that was approved by the Legislature in 2005.

According to Pérez, Macri’s officials stated that by September they will count with a plant that will reduce 1,000 tons the waste that is sent to the province.

The strike began on Sunday at 8pm and was due to continue for 48 hours, but as the Labour Ministry ordered the mandatory conciliation, the service will be resumed on Tuesday.

Early on Monday, rubbish was accumulating throughout the city and trucks where prevented from entering CEAMSE’s landfills in several locations of the province.

City Public Spaces Minister Diego Santilli expressed anxiety over the sanitary situation of the Buenos Aires. “I am concerned for the 14 million people left without rubbish collection,” he said.