BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A 24-hour oil workers strike in Argentina disrupted energy supplies to industrial and domestic consumers across the country.
El Cronista reported Wednesday that the stoppage by oil workers in the Neuquen basin provinces of La Pampa, Neuquen and Rio Negro, which ended Tuesday, disrupted not only natural gas supplies to the industrial sector but produced propane shortages as well, a fuel widely used for domestic cooking. The stoppage decreased natural-gas shipments by 50 million cubic meters, a third of the country's daily usage.
The Argentine Industrial Union leadership noted its "serious concern" about the impact of the oil conflict on industry and called on the government to adopt "urgent measures to avoid greater damages to production, investment, and employment" and urged the government to implement "urgent measures to avoid greater damages to production, investment, and employment."
While the immediate crisis has passed, the union announced it will stage a second, two-day strike beginning on Sept. 29 if 200 recently dismissed workers are not rehired.
