Chile’s costly strike over

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33067, 7 November 1972, Page 19

Chile’s costly strike over

fN.Z.P.4.-Reuter— Copyright) SANTIAGO, November 6. Chile’s crippling “bosses’ strike” against the Government of the Marxist President (Dr Allende) has ended after 10 hours of almost non-stop negotiations between the strike leaders and the Minister of the Interior (General Carlos Prats).

The strikers agreed to end their stoppage on terms which, observers say, are almost identical to those offered by Dr Allende only two days after the strike began on October 11.

Lorry-owners and ownerdrivers had pulled their vehicles off the roads on that date in protest against a Government plan to establish a State-run transport system in the southern province of Aysen. They saw it as the thin end of the wedge towards nationalisation of the entire industry, and thousands of other business and professional men joined the strike. During yesterday’s negotiations, the Minister of Defence (Mr Jose Toha) told reporters that the final Government prosals were virtually an ultimatum to the strikers.

General Prats promised

that all legal action against the strike leaders would be dropped if work was resumed today; that all vehicles and businesses requisitioned since the strike began would be returned to their owners; and that there would be no reprisals.

With the ending of the strike, the nightly six-hour curfew on Santiago and other cities has been lifted. Dr Allende estimated last week that the stoppage had cost the country the equivalent of about SNZI42.7m in lost trade and tax revenue. It also cost the lives of at least seven people, including four men who failed to stop when challenged by troops after curfew; caused a serious shortage of all but essential foodstuffs and other supplies to people in the cities; and forced Dr Allende to reshuffle his Cabinet.