Conaprole, Uruguay's leading dairy company, announced the closure of its plant number 14 in Rivera, scheduled for October 31, 2025, due to a drop in fresh milk production, about 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) per day.
The plant's industrial inefficiency has been pointed out, according to Gabriel Fernández, president of Conaprole.
The plant, acquired in 1984 as the former Industria Láctea de Rivera (INLAR), generates about 40 direct and indirect jobs.
The decision has sparked a labor dispute, with FTIL (Federation of Dairy Industry Workers) and AOEC (Association of Conaprole Workers and Employees), union organizations affiliated with PIT-CNT.
Both are "on alert" and organizing measures.
Wildcat strike
There was a 24-hour wildcat strike on Friday, July 11, which was a true disaster. The unionists launched an absolutely irresponsible strike with the sole purpose of harming small family dairy farmers and ruining their milk production.
On social media, videos could be seen of how small dairies in the country's interior poured fresh milk onto the fields due to the strike.
Communist leader directs the conflict
Enrique Méndez is the unionist from the Communist Party who leads FTIL. He is an extremist addicted to labor conflicts, who on May Day last year was invited by the Cuban communist dictatorship to the island.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Castrista tyranny: "As every year, a group of Uruguayan friends formed the May 1st Brigade, which traveled to Havana to participate in the Cuban celebration of International Workers' Day."
Later, the website of the Cuban narco dictatorship states, "This time, the delegation of 40 brigadistas was headed by comrade Enrique Méndez, member of the Executive Secretariat of the Uruguayan union central PIT-CNT and in charge of the Organization area."
