Brazil's Santos port strikers to end strike Thursday

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Unionized dockworkers at Brazil's key port of Santos have cut a deal with managers over work conditions and are to end their strike of more than three days, port and shipping sources said Thursday.

The Santos port authority Codesp and OGMO, the body that manages the portworkers, said the stevedores would return to work at 1300 local (1500 GMT) and start to clear a backlog of vessels.

Union officials were not available for comment.

The strike, which began on Monday, related to grievances over working conditions and port safety and the dockworkers had refused to handle berthed vessels, which now total 14.

However, another eight have been unloading goods not requiring manual labor.

Five of the 13 docked vessels were earmarked to carry fertilizers, three for sugar, one for wheat, one for salt, and another with containers, according to port authority Codesp. The remainder were for vehicles, steel and cellulose.

Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer and exporter, ships more than 70 percent of its coffee through Santos -- the vast majority in containers.

The port also handles the bulk of Brazil's sugar and frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) exports. Brazil is the world's single biggest producer of both commodities.

The end of the strike will come as a relief for shipping experts who on Wednesday said they feared the industrial action might spread to Brazil's second port, Paranagua, in the southern grain-rich Parana state, and also Rio de Janeiro.

"It looks like they (workers and OGMO) came to an agreement but I don't know about the conditions," said Paulo Martinez, general manager of shipping agents Safeport. "Boats are coming in, so it's positive for now."

The stevedores union has clashed with the government since a national port modernization law was passed in 1993 that aimed to lower the control of unions over dock hiring policies and the number of dock workers that terminals must use.

This week's strike coincided with a reduction of unionized stevedores in the port's work contracts, due to enter into force Monday in line with OGMO's assessments.

Santos, the largest port in both Brazil and South America, handled 42.68 million tonnes of goods last year. Monthly movement volumes have mostly been higher this year against 1999 due to the port's modernization and privatization programs.

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