A public sector workers’ strike is slowing Chile’s agriculture exports, with ports along the Pacific coast moving some perishable goods during emergency shifts, officials say.

SANTIAGO- A public sector workers’ strike is slowing Chile’s agriculture exports, with ports along the Pacific coast moving some perishable goods during emergency shifts, officials say. The indefinite strike by thousands of public sector employees entered a third day on Wednesday, with court staff joining prison workers and customs officials to demand a 14.5 percent pay increase to counter inflation at 14-year highs.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and a major exporter of fruits and vegetables, with most exports being moved through large sea ports. The strike by customs agents slowed agriculture exports, although some agents stayed on the job and worked extra emergency shifts to keep goods moving.

“We are not in a normal situation, but urgent exports are being shipped in emergency shifts,” an official for the National Customs Service said of the ports. “Most urgent are fruits and vegetables, the perishable goods.” “Exports of copper from the ports of Antofagasta and Mejillones are running absolutely normally,” the official told Reuters, adding that mountain border crossings used to ship freight by road were open but that were queues and delays.

Exporters of fresh fruit said the strike was hurting their ability to meet quality standards and delivery obligations.

The strike is the latest in a series of protests against President Michelle Bachelet’s ruling center-left coalition, which polls show could be ousted by a rightist opposition alliance at a presidential election next year.

Protesters marched along main thoroughfares in Santiago on Monday and Tuesday, waving flags and blowing whistles. Public schools, hospitals and customs services were fully or partially closed.

Offer Sweetener Falls Short An estimated 25,000 workers gathered outside Chile’s Congress in the port city of Valparaiso on Wednesday, where lawmakers were to study the government’s proposal for a sliding scale salary adjustment, with a 10 percent raise for staff earning less than $1,500 a month — or more than 70 percent of public sector workers, many of whom earn far less.

The government slightly improved its offer on Wednesday, offering workers who make between about $1,500 to $3,000 a month a raise of 9 percent. There will be no increase for top earners in the public sector.

“The government has made a final offer, which enables us to meet the needs of the vast majority of public sector workers,” Finance Minister Andres Velasco said.

For those who earn most “it seems fair to us to ask them to make a sacrifice given the difficult straits the international economy is in, so we can finance a slightly higher raise for those who earn least.”

The 14.5 percent raise workers are demanding compares to inflation that hit 9.9 percent for the 12 months to October, more than triple the central bank’s target rate of 3 percent and the highest level since 1994.

“The problem is the government does not know how to listen, or to see, or to read,” said Raul de la Puente, head of the National Association of Fiscal Employees, which groups workers across the public sector.

“I think ministers, and especially the finance minister, need a crash course in socio-economics.”

Por Mónica Vargas, Reuters.