Servirio`s News

By Fernando Bassán, owner of Servicios Fluviales and member of CESLAA

For the past twenty years, I have been knocking on the same doors: the Argentine Naval Prefecture, the sector’s trade unions, and the Ministry of Labor. I have done so personally and also together with the Chamber that represents us, CESLAA. The complaint has always been the same: companies are operating on the Paraná River waterway with unregistered crews, while those of us who comply with the law are being pushed further and further out of the market. There has never been a concrete response, only promises that faded away over time.

A Business That Depends on Small Vessels

My business is Servicios Fluviales. We operate small vessels that provide assistance to oceangoing ships entering the Paraná River waterway. This work requires properly licensed crews and, in our case, employees who are formally registered with three different unions depending on each worker’s role on board. Complying with these requirements comes at a cost, and today that cost is precisely what is pushing us out of the market.

When Operating Outside the Rules Is Cheaper

This year, the situation has worsened. Maritime agencies, which are responsible for hiring these services on behalf of the vessels, have increasingly begun choosing companies that operate with crew members employed irregularly, simply because their costs are much lower.

One example illustrates the scale of the difference: a skipper — the captain of a small vessel — earns approximately ARS 60,000 per day at one of these companies operating irregularly. At a company that complies with all legal requirements, that same position, including all employer contributions and labor-related costs, represents an expense of approximately ARS 230,000 per day.

The difference is almost fourfold, and in a market where price ultimately determines who gets hired, companies that formally register their employees are placed at a significant competitive disadvantage.

A Thirty-Year Step Backward

What we are seeing today is disturbingly similar to what happened in the 1990s: workers being paid cash, entirely outside the formal employment system, as a common form of employment. It is a practice the sector had left behind, but one that is now returning, enabled by the lack of effective inspections and enforcement.

Making matters worse, some of these irregular operators — or the owners of the vessels providing these services — are, in certain cases, members of the very unions that are supposed to ensure compliance with collective bargaining agreements and the proper registration of workers.

The Result: Layoffs at Companies That Follow the Rules

The direct consequence is that several companies in the sector that have always operated legally are now laying off employees because they are unable to compete with cost structures that exclude social security contributions and workers’ rights.

Others, like our company, are looking for alternatives to avoid reaching that point, although doing so is becoming increasingly difficult.

A Complaint Still Waiting for an Answer

For twenty years, we have filed complaints with regulatory authorities and with the unions themselves, yet none of them has resulted in effective inspections or enforcement.

Meanwhile, undeclared labor is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative for those hiring these services, while companies that comply with the regulations are left with less and less room to preserve the jobs we create legally and formally.

The question I leave open is simple: who is actually responsible for monitoring employment conditions on board vessels operating along the Paraná River waterway, and how much longer will those who operate outside the law continue to be rewarded?